The Messanger of Time
by Eriah Sylverstone
Summary: The first story of the Legacy of Sylver series... This story tells about the Messanger of Time, Vincent Verona, who was sent on a task by the Spiritual Council to prevent a calamity which is predicted to befall the world. But he soon realizes that the task he sent on is no ordinary Messanger's task... And a change is happening within the very Council that sent him to the world.
1. Prologue

**_Part 1 - The Beginning_**

_Prologue_

_The world is growing darker... Each day, I can feel life slipping away... It is nearly time..._  
_Only the final one can prevent the great crisis... But can he do it?_  
_This will be the ultimate test for him..._

_Good luck... Vincent Verona._

* * *

It is October 15, 1990 at Temporal Tower, the ending point of the Messanger of Time, Gerald Grey, who is in the form of a blue-flamed Typhlosion. He is followed by Lucas Crane, who has been alongside Gerald through his entire task. He is in the form of a Mightyena, and is a Messanger sent out by the Spiritual Council to take on the Spacial Task.

For those unaware of what the Spiritual Council is, they're a group of beings in a plain between life and the afterlife, who have been chosen to serve Arceus in protecting the various realms in existance. They send individuals called Messangers on lifelong tasks to prevent foreseen calamities from befalling these realms. Two of which, are Gerald and Lucas.

In the Spiritual World, most take on a human form as they serve the Council. Gerald would be in that of an average sized male appearing in his early thirties and having short, brown hair and dark blue eyes. Under normal circumstances, he would be seen in a somewhat thick attire, and he has a bold personality, but is known to make rash choices at times.

Lucas, however, is one of the more calm and focused nature. He would be seen normally as a tall man in his late twenties and having black hair slightly longer than that of Gerald's. Eyes of a deep amethyst color reflect his wealth of intelligence and wisdom, often fabricating ideas that have proven beneficial for the rest of the Council. He is known to suit primarily in a priest-like outfit, however he preferred the darker colors, which could come from the idea that 'darkness' is not necessarily an evil force, but harder to make proper use of.

This idea may also reflect on the fact that he is naturally born a Mightyena, as he appears in the physical world. The same is for Gerald, being that of a Typhlosion.

As the two reach the top of the tall tower long seen as a sacred monument to all who live in this realm, Gerald looks down at the necklace which he was given to hold contact with a close friend. He remembers the vow he made to one day return safely from his task. And he will do everything in his power to make that true.

But is that enough? He begins to wonder if he's followed the right path to finally come to this point. As he looks ahead to the shrine which awaits them, he takes his bag and pulls out five small objects in the shapes of teal gears. After looking at them for a moment, he walks forward and examines the shrine, seeing fine carved indentations which the gears would be placed in order to restore the proper flow of time throughout the realm.

He begins to place each Time Gear in the shrine, growing more tense with each one placed. As he takes the last one, he stares at it for what seems like forever. Lucas walks over to his side and nudges him, getting his attention and then nodding to him. As he reaches out to place it, his attention is caught by a deep growl behind them as they both turn, seeing what looks like Dialga. However, he is dark blue in color and the diamond which is normally clear, is a deep crimson red.

Upon the sight, Gerald lowers his arm and steps back from him. However, he only backs into the shrine behind him as he stares up at the deity of time in Primal form. The sheer sight of this dark entity sends chills through him as he faces fear in the eyes.

Lucas soon steps forward, staring up at Dialga as he stands inbetween him and the Typhlosion whom he swore to protect during their task. Not taking his eyes off the large creature, he speaks in a low tone. "It's now or never, my friend. Place it before it's too late."

Gerald looks at him, and slowly nods as he holds up the Time Gear and is about to turn to the shrine. But Dialga roars out and fires a beam of energy at them, the two barely dodging as they are separated by an explosion that could've destroyed them both.

Upon landing, Gerald drops the Time Gear in his paw, it rolling across the ground as it nears the tower's edge. He quickly rushes after it as it rolls over, about to jump after it as Lucas yells out to him and grabs him.

"Gerald, no! It's too late to go after it!"

Gerald growls and throws him back, looking over the edge as the a feeling of dread comes over him when the Time Gear hits the ground below, shattering into several pieces.

Lucas slowly staggers up, looking at him as he stares down over the edge in complete silence. "...Gerald?"

Gerald turns and walks by Lucas, speaking quietly. "It's over... I've failed..."

Lucas watches him, turning as he walks by, towards Dialga. "I'm sorry, Gerald... There was nothing we could do."

Gerald looks up at Dialga, who stares back down at him, no longer attacking as the task has already ended in failure. The Typhlosion growls lightly and clenches his paws. "This isn't the end... I may have failed, but we will find a way..."

Dialga snorts in response, turning and walking away. And soon after, Gerald drops to the ground, emitting a silvery glow. Lucas, seeing this, runs to his side and crouches down to him.

"Hey! Gerald, look at me..."

Gerald lifts his head to look up at the Mightyena, who stares into his eyes.

"I'll make sure it changes. You've done well, my friend... Just go back, I'll take things from here."

Gerald slowly nods and lays his head down. "...And to think, I was so close... to finishing it, once and for all. I guess, just like the others, It'll end empty-handed for me."

Lucas nudges him. "Hey, don't say that. You won't fall like the others have. I'll see to that."

Gerald grunts and chuckles a bit, closing his eyes. "You're a good friend, Lucas... Keep at it, wherever you go."

Lucas nods and smiles a little. "Farewell, my friend... I'll see you, in time."

Gerald smiles and lets out a breath as he fades away in silver particles, returning to the Spiritual World as Lucas slowly steps back.

He then turns to the shrine and sighs. "I guess... it's up to one more to finish the task. I just hope they can pick the right one..."

Lucas walks off, fading into the shadows as he prepares for the next to come.

"What... What do you want? ...No. No! I'm not going!"

~October 16, 1990~

"Vincent? Are you awake?"

A tall male, looking to be in his late teens, sits up on his bed and looks to the door. He has short, dark hair and deep blue eyes, and wears clothing of seemingly average style. A short-sleeved white shirt and long light blue jeans, looking almost a size large for him and held with a black leather belt which is hidden under his shirt.

"What is it, Joseph? ...Why do I get the feeling from your look that somemthing bad happened?"

Another man, nearly Vincent's height and in thin, silver robes, stands in the doorway. His blue hair is held by a silver band and he bears a long katana on his side. He looks back at the younger male with lighter blue eyes, having an uneasy expression.

"You've been summoned to the Council Chamber. It can't wait."

Vincent gets up and looks at him curiously. "What happened?"

"Come. I'll explain on the way."

As the two walk out, Joseph explains to Vincent what happened during Gerald's task, and how the Council Elites found him unconscious upon his return. He seemed to be brutally injured. By what, is not known. For what they knew, he returned with no incident. It is thought that he was attacked before they came to him. But as of yet, he hasn't regained consciousness.

Vincent looks down in thought. "But what could've happened..? And you said he failed his task? That's not like him..."

Joseph shakes his head. "I don't really know the details. But he may be awake when we get there."

Vincent nods slowly and looks ahead as they climb the stairs to the Council Chamber. As they enter, he looks to the room on the left, being the infirmary. He looks around inside, noticing Gerald on a nearby bed and running to him. He is seen to be in human form. "Gerald? Gerald, can you hear me?"

He slowly opens his eyes and looks up at Vincent, blinking and then letting out a small sigh. "How'd I know I'd see you here..?"

"What happened to you? Do you remember?"

Gerald slowly shakes his head. "I was attacked... He tried to take me... as soon as I came back..."

"Who? Who did this, Gerald?"

He winces in pain, trying to speak, but losing conscious again.

"Gerald..? Gerald!"

Joseph, who is watching from the doorway, shakes his head and sighs. "And yet more questions left unanswered..."

Vincent looks at him and shakes his head. "What is happening lately?"

Joseph turns to the hall. "I wish I knew. But we can't spend any more time here. The Minister's expecting you." He then walks out.

Vincent blinks. "The Minister... But he was just elected, yesterday. He's already assigned to a meeting?"

He decides to shrug it off and follow Joseph out, going down the hall to the main chamber. He looks around, the room seeming to be practically empty, other than a couple people in the seats and the Minister at his desk in the front.

As he walks over to the pedistal, he looks up at the Minister. Joseph goes to a nearby seat and sits down. The Minister, seeming to be somewhat impatient, is going through papers on his desk.

"...Minister? Is something the matter?"

"I'm expecting another. He seems to be late in his appearance."

"Another..?" Vincent turns to hear quick footsteps down the hall as he sees a shorter male with light brown hair and green eyes run into the room. He rushes to the other pedistal and pants. "I'm sorry, Minister. I tried to get here as fast as I could."

The Minster eyes him irritably. "Of course you did, James. And I don't suppose your mentor did his job at making sure you got here in time?"

A blonde-haired man dressed in all black runs into the room and looks up at him. "Not true, he was dodging the subject and decided to take a few side trips."

The Minister holds his hand out. "That's enough, Chris. I will hear no more of this. The fact of the matter is, under no circumstances should individuals ever be late to a summoning. The Elder will know of this."

Chris grunts and sits down next to Joseph, folding his arms. "It wasn't my fault..."

Joseph rolls his eyes. "Just accept it and move on so we can get to the purpose of this meeting."

The Minister nods and looks down at Vincent and James. "Now, you two have been called here under special orders."

Vincent looks over at James. "What kind of trouble did you get into this time, hmm?"

"No more than usual... I hope."

The Minister clears his throat and speaks again. "He is in no trouble. The situation calls for a different cause. And that is, you two are brought here to fulfill your role as Messangers. There is a task chosen for each of you."

James looks back up at him and tilts his head. "Oh? And what kind of task is this, might I ask?"

"Your task is that of the Peace Messanger. And as such, you will be sent to Earthrealm under said terms."

He nods slowly and looks over at Vincent. "And what of him?"

Vincent looks up at the Minister, having a feeling of tension as he can tell what he is about to say.

"We have received intelligence that Gerald Grey has failed the Temporal Task, yesterday. And because of this, a new Messanger must be assigned the task..."

James blinks and looks back at the Minister. "Wait. You can't be saying..." He looks at Vincent, then back at the Minister. "Do you realize just what you're putting him on?"

"We've no other choice. Vincent's records have shown his level of abilities in fulfilling his tasks. Regardless of a recent occurance, he is still in highest standards, and one of our best."

Vincent looks away in silence at his words. Having the memories of what had previously happened, he is uncertain he can take on such a task. But if it's what the Spiritual Council has chosen, then it is something he must do.

After a moment, he looks back up at the Minister. "I accept this task..."

James looks back at him and shakes his head. "You can't be serious, Vincent! You know what happened to the other three."

"There's no choice, James!"

He steps back, now quiet, and Vincent turns to him.

"It'll be okay... Trust me on this. I'll see to it that it gets done and I come back safely."

He sighs and slowly nods. "Fine... But be careful. I don't like this idea, one bit."

Vincent then turns back to the Minister and nods. "Go on."

The Minister nods and hits a switch, what looks like a hologram appearing in front of them. "Due to your current positions, you shall enter the world from a natural birth, and live your tasks."

James looks at the one in front of him and sighs. "I know..." He runs through the list, reading the names and then tapping one of them. "Done."

Vincent looks at him curiously. "That was fast..."

"It's intuition. I know this one will be right for me."

He shrugs and looks through his own list, going through the names and blinking as he overlooks one of them. "...Minister? What is with this one?" He taps one and the Minister looks over his papers.  
"Chrissa Verona and Samuel Alicera... Wait, what is this? They shouldn't even be here. From this report, the documentary on these people was found destroyed two weeks ago."

"Destroyed... Curious..."

James looks at him. "Don't tell me you're actually going to go with them."

"You know I always pick the ones that stand out the most to me. Perhaps if I go with them, I'll find out just what happened to their documents. Clearly, someone doesn't want us to know about them."

"You're insane..."

Vincent shrugs and nods to the Minister. "I choose them."

"...Very well then, if you insist." The lists then fade away and are replaced with several small orbs of varying features. "I believe you know what comes next. I'll leave it to you to choose."

James looks them over, then taps four of them, having them immediately disappear when touched, but also vanishing on Vincent's side as well.

"...Hey, I wanted one of those."

"You're too slow." James looks at him with a chuckle and he shakes his head.

"I'll get you back for this." He then looks over them, tapping four of them and naming each of them. "Time Crossing, Light Warp, Dimensional Scream... Dragon Taming, I suppose."

After the fourth one is selected, they fade away, the chosen abilities binding to both of them as they look back at the Minister.

"Right, then. It would seem you're both now prepared. If you will, please step forward." He then hits a switch, the large panel in the center of the room lighting up and then swirling around in a pool of silver energy.

Upon seeing this, the two move over and look down at it. Knowing that stepping onto it would send them to the physical realm and begin their tasks, they look at each other, Vincent taking a deep breath.

"...Are you ready, James?"

He slowly nods. "You, Vincent?"

He nods and looks back at Joseph and Chris, who are watching them silently. Joseph nods to him assuringly, and he turns back to the panel.

The Minister then speaks up. "When you're ready, you may begin. And the best of luck to you both."

After a moment, they look at each other again, then back at the panel and step onto it. It lights up and they turn back to Joseph and Chris, looking at them one last time before fading away, the panel then returning to its normal look as they are sent away. And on the following day, their tasks have begun...


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - New Family

~November 5, 1990~

"Hey, Sam..? Come look at this."

A tall man of average build, having short, dark brown hair and brown eyes goes over to the nearby tree and kneels down by a Latias, seeming to be injured and unconscious. He looks over the pokemon, placing his hand on her forehead and shaking his head.

"She seems to have been abused and abandoned here... Who would do such a thing?"

The shorter woman sitting next to the Latias sighs and looks back down at her with her amber-colored eyes, pulling her long black hair out of them to look at the extent of the pokemon's injuries. She would also notice the silver film on her wings, which she found somewhat interesting.

"I really don't know... It looks like she's malnourished though. Whoever she was with must've neglected her..."

Samuel stands up and whistles out, calling down a greenish-blue Flygon from the sky, then walks over to her and pets her head before looking down at the Latias.

"Sierra, could you help me get her to the house?"

The Flygon nods and Samuel goes back to the Latias, picking her up with Chrissa's help and putting her on Sierra's back.

"We'll have to go on Aerthos. Fly slowly, we can't risk her falling off."

The Flygon nods and Samuel steps back as she lifts off into the air, waiting for them. Chrissa waves, as a Dragonite descends down from the sky near her. It would be noted that he has darker green wings than normal, and his antennae are yellow in color.

The two walk over to him and Chrissa pats his back. "We're going home early, Aerthos. We have a guest."

The Dragonite looks up at Sierra, then nods and lowers down for the two to get up on his back. Chrissa pats him again and he takes off, a bit faster than the Flygon, which she and Samuel have become used to. They then head off southwest, leaving the Moonstone Range near Pewter, and heading towards their home. They are sure to keep at Sierra's pace as to fly together until finally reaching their destination.

It is a rather quiet and calm place in the outskirts of Pallet, where the two have an expensive-looking two story house set up. The patio is consisted of red bricks, which sits in a garden area of various plants, and a tall windmill standing nearby. The house is comprised mostly of a fancy-looking wooden material, along with the roof, which holds a solar panel on it.

As they land, Samuel and Chrissa carry the Latias into the house and set her on the bed in their room. Meanwhile, Sierra and Aerthos return to the sky to fly around again.

Chrissa proceeds to inspect the Latias' wounds, treating them as much as she can, while Samuel tends to the night's dinner and prepares a dish of fruits for the Latias.

Shortly, another pokemon enters the room. A Latios, whose wings are covered in a golden film. As he approaches Chrissa and the Latias, he looks over the pokemon, seeming to be in better condition than she was when she was found. And almost immediately, he recognizes her and quickly flies around to be by her side.

Chrissa looks at him curiously as he nudges the Latias with his nose, looking worried as he speaks in telepathy. "Larisa..? Come on, wake up!"

Chrissa shakes her head slowly. "It'll be a bit before she wakes up, give her some time..."

The Latios sighs and sits by the bed, laying his head by her. "It's been several months since I've seen her..."

Chrissa sits down on the bed, stroking Larisa's neck lightly, causing her to make faint purring in her sleep. "Lasuno... Is she the one that you talked about before..?"

Lasuno nods slowly. "She's the one I was with, when they captured us. Do you see her wings? She and I were of the inherent ones with that unique property. When they found us, they saw this and wanted to use us for our_special powers_..."

Chrissa sighs and looks down at Larisa. "So are you siblings, or..."

Lasuno shakes his head. "Siblings, no. There were many like us before. Different families that had what we do. Whether there are more, I don't know..."

Chrissa nods slowly and looks at him. "Well you two will be safe here. You don't have to worry about that."

He smiles a bit, having been keeping his eyes on the Latias the entire time.

After a short time, Chrissa speaks again. "So how are the children?"

"They're a bit of a nuisance when they're awake, I'll admit. But asleep, they're angels."

She giggles lightly at the statement. "Well they _are_ my angels."

Lasuno smiles a bit and nods. "Though I still wonder about him..."

"Vincent?"

He nods.

"Well, he is rather different, I'll say. It was a bit strange when the electronics started acting up that day. And even you said you could feel the energy from him."

She continues to stroke along Larisa's neck to comfort her. "But even if he is different, he's still my son. And I'll raise him the same as my other children."

Lasuno nods, his ears perking when Samuel walks into the room. He looks at the three, then walks over to the bed and sits down, looking at Larisa, then at Chrissa.

"How is she doing?"

Chrissa nods to him. "She's fine. She just needs to rest. But she shouldn't fly for a while, until she can regain her energy. Is dinner ready?"

He nods. "I've set some for her, when she wakes up. Ours is done, whenever you're ready."

She looks at Lasuno, who nods to her. "I'll be okay... I want to stay in here to watch Larisa."

She slowly nods and gets up. "If you need anything, we'll be out there."

He nods and the two leave the room to eat. He then hovers onto the bed to lay next to Larisa, who is sleeping soundly, seeming to look more comforted with him near her.

"Please be okay..."

Soon after finishing dinner, Chrissa gets up to check on the two in the room, noticing that Lasuno has fallen asleep. She watches the two, and can't help but smile at the sight of them. They look so cute together.

Samuel comes down the hall and looks into the room, hugging Chrissa while looking at them. "I guess it's the livingroom tonight."

She nods. "Yeah, they can have the bed. It's best we not disturb them."

They then go into the livingroom and lay down to sleep. Having left the pokemon to rest, they would likely be awake the next morning. So Samuel and Chrissa soon fall asleep, hoping for the best for them.

- - - - -

Later that night, Larisa finally comes to consciousness and opens her eyes, looking around and becoming curious as to where she is. Noticing she's inside a room, she begins to worry that she was abducted by more humans. But then she notices Lasuno on the bed by her, calming down just a little and then nosing him.

Shortly waking up, he opens his eyes to look at her, and then smiles a bit. "Hey there, Larisa..."

"L-Lasuno..? Is that really you..?"

He slowly nods and moves closer to her, and she begins to well up with tears, immediately hugging him tightly.

"I thought I lost you... I couldn't-"

"Shh, shh. I'm here, Larisa... It's okay..."

She looks into his eyes, then lays her head against him as he hugs her back.

"...So where are we? Is this a house?"

He nods again. "This is the home of a nice family. They rescued the both of us and brought us here."

She looks back at him, growing curious. "Both of us..?"

"Months ago... You remember when those people abandoned me on Moonstone Range, right?"

She slowly nods, distainful of the memory.

"When these people found me, they took me in and cared for me until I regained health. And after telling them of the ones that took us, they promised me they'd search for you. So they went back to the Range every day to look for you. Not missing one trip there, they finally found you after several months. And now, here you are..."

She stares at him for a bit, then hugs him again, even tighter this time. And he returns it.

"I'm glad you're okay, Larisa..."

After a bit, she finally lets go and looks at him again. "So you've been living here this whole time..?"

He nods and looks outside the room. "They've treated me as a part of the family. They even prepared some food for you, when you awoke."

"They made some... for me?"

Lasuno smiles and noses her. "If you're ready, that is..."

She smiles a little, then lets out a little coo, starting to hover, then straining and falling on the bed again, whimpering softly. And he puts his paws on her.

"...Perhaps I should carry you. You still need to rest a bit before flying..."

She looks up at him, then slowly nods. And he takes her onto his back, flying out into the livingroom and looking around. Chrissa is asleep on the couch, and Samuel is reclined in the chair, both covered in blankets. The two look to be in a deep sleep. So Lasuno and Larisa leave them alone and fly into the kitchen, where a large dish of fruit is sitting on the table.

Lasuno goes over and Larisa reaches down to pick up an apple, looking at it curiously and then immediately eating it, as though she hadn't eaten in several days. As she eats, Lasuno begins to wonder just how long it's been since she had had something to eat. But he is happy to see that she is getting food. And of something better than what their captors had been giving them.

After finally getting her fill, she lays her head down on Lasuno, and he smiles back at her. "Are you full?"

She lets out a low purr in response, and he chuckles a bit, turning his head to nuzzle her and then tossing out the remains of the fruit, putting back the uneaten items and flying through the livingroom again to go back to the bedroom.

Soon after passing through, Chrissa opens her eyes and looks down the hall towards them, smiling in relief to know they were okay, and then going back to sleep.

- - - - -

The next morning, Chrissa wakes up again and looks around, seeing that Samuel is still asleep, and getting up. She goes into the room, noticing that Lasuno and Larisa are no longer here, and then goes to the front door to look outside. She sees the two are flying around the garden, and smiles, going out onto the patio and watching them.

Soon, the two notice her and fly down to her, Larisa looking at her cautiously and keeping a bit of a distance.

"I see you're finally awake. Are you okay?"

She nods slowly, and Chrissa smiles. "That's good... I'm Chrissa Verona."

Larisa looks at Lasuno, who nods to her, then looks back at Chrissa, hovering forward. "...I'm Larisa. It's nice to meet you."

Chrissa nods, and Lasuno looks around. "Where is..."

"Sam? Oh, he's still passed out on the chair. I'll go get him."

She walks into the house, and the two follow her as she goes over to the chair, poking Samuel repeatedly in the head. "Wakey wakey, you lazy bum."

He mumbles in his sleep and shifts, and she pulls the blanket off him, making him flail in the chair and roll over.

"Alright, that's how it is?" Chrissa then goes to the side and pushes down the recliner with her foot, throwing him forward and out of the chair as he lands facefirst on the floor. And Larisa meeps, jumping back.

Samuel groans and glares up at her. "What's the big idea?"

She puts her hands on her hips and looks down at him. "Our guest is awake. Be a gentleman and say hi to her, dear."

He grunts and rubs his face, staggering up. "You could've been nicer. I was having a good dream."

"You always have good dreams. That excuse is obsolete."

He stares at her, and she points back at the other two, him looking at them. "Oh, right. Ugh, this is a terrible meeting."

And Larisa can't help but giggle at what's happening. He looks at her curiously. "...What?"

"Sorry... You're kinda funny."

He smirks and looks away, and Chrissa smiles. "Now, Sammy dear. Don't be shy."

Samuel then rolls his eyes and looks back at Larisa. "...Anyway. I'm Samuel Alicera."

The Latias smiles and nods. "And I'm Larisa."

After a moment of awkward silence after the introduction, Samuel speaks up loudly, "_Anyways,_ making everyone jump.

"I'm gonna get breakfast." He then goes into the kitchen, and Larisa and Lasuno watch him, then shrug.

Chrissa calls out as she runs in after him. "Don't start it without me! You never cook my eggs right!"

The two look at each other, Larisa giggling a bit. "They're silly."

Lasuno smiles. "But they're good. So it's much better than where we were."

She nods and purrs. "I think I'll like it here."

And they all continue with the day, talking with each other and getting better used to each other's company, Larisa now being a part of the family along with Lasuno.

But what lies ahead may be much more than they could ever have expected.

- - - - -

~Two Years Later~

"I don't understand... His task was set in this realm. Why isn't he here?"

A shadowy individual wanders a dark and empty plain in irritation.

"I've already searched every corner of the lands. There must be a mistake... Unless..."

The individual looks up at the silent sky. "...He was born in the other realm."

After a moment in thought, he speaks again, his green eyes flickering. "Not to fear... He will join us, in time."

He then holds out a stone and vanishes into the darkness, as Lucas watches from behind the hill.

"He's truly persistent... But why there?" The Mightyena looks around and sighs. "Things are so unclear. It makes so little sense."

After a short time, he pulls out a stone from a small pouch strapped to his side. "I suppose staying here will no longer do any good. Very well then..."

He holds up the stone in his mouth, soon fading away like the other individual. The area, now barren of any life, remains in a dead silence. It's as though time, itself, had stopped... 


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - The Bond

~July 19, 1992~

"Lasuno... She made it..."

Lasuno flies over to Larisa and looks at her. She is holding a blanket wrapped around a small black Latias, who is asleep with her wings closed in around her body. It would be seen that her chest crest is of a blue color, and her body seems to emit an odd power.

"So she did... I was afraid she wouldn't... I'm so glad she did."

Larisa purrs softly and looks down at the smaller Latias. "She looks so adorable... I've thought of a name for her..."

He looks at her curiously. "You came to a conclusion?"

She nods slowly. "It's Amber..."

Lasuno smiles and puts his arm around her. "It's a nice name... It's settled then. Our daughter will be named Amber."

Larisa giggles softly and nuzzles him. "I'm glad you like it, dear..."

He chuckles a bit and nods, then looks at the door as Samuel walks in, wearing very simple clothing and covered in dirt after having worked outside.

The Latios looks at him curiously. "Working hard, are we Samuel? Did you get something acomplished?"

He nods and smiles, holding up several laces with differently colored stones attached to them.

The two look at them with curiosity and Lasuno looks from them, back at Samuel. "Are those..."

Samuel nods again and places the stones in his other hand. "Your psychic energy really came in handy when working on these. I couldn't have done it without you?"

Chrissa pokes her head into the room, seeing them here, and walks in. "Is everything okay in here? Some meeting, and you didn't even call me."

Samuel chuckles a bit and puts his arm around her back. "Sorry, Chrissa. I was excited to show them what I finished."

"Oh? And what's that, Sammy?"

He looks down at the stone necklaces, then runs his hand over the group, each of them emitting a glow of their particular color before fading to normal again. He then picks up one of them... a deep blue stone, then looks at Lasuno.

"Our family bond. These necklaces, if used right, can be used to contact the others who have them. I don't really know the full extent of what they can do. But I'm sure they'll really help us. My gift to you all..."

They all watch as he goes over to Lasuno and puts the blue necklace on him. "Lasuno..."

He then goes over to Larisa and pulls up a red stone, putting the necklace on her. "Larisa..."

She smiles and he looks down at Amber, then goes through the stones, pulling up a black one to match her color. He puts it in the blanket with her and Larisa speaks softly. "Amber..."

He smiles and nods. "Amber."

Samuel then goes over to Chrissa and picks up a teal colored one, looking into her eyes and undoing the necklace's magnetic clip. He then puts it around her neck and locks it again, and she smiles.

"My dear Chrissa..."

She giggles and hugs him, and he returns it, then steps back and looks at everyone.

He takes a green stone and looks at it, then puts it around his own neck. "Myself."

Chrissa smiles. "Samuel..."

He nods, then holds up a purple one and speaks again. "Christina Alicera, one of the eldest twins."

He holds up a yellow one. "Hector Alicera, the second of the eldest."

He holds up a light blue one. "Vincent Verona, the third of the four siblings."

He holds up an orange one. "Melissa Verona, the youngest of the four."

He then looks at a white one, holding it up. "One more..." They look at it. And after a while, he sets it back down. "Let's hold onto this one. I'm sure we'll find an owner for it. Someone truly trustworthy..."

They all nod and he puts it in his pocket. He then holds up his stone, then grasps it in his hand. And almost immediately, each of the others glow the same green color as his, before fading to normal.

They look at them in curiosity, and Chrissa holds his in her hand, the others then glowing its teal color and fading again.

She speaks softly. "They react to one another... To tell us who is holding theirs..."

Samuel nods, then looks at the other stones in his hand. "I wonder though..." He then takes his own in his other hand. "We each hold ours, all at once."

They nod and he closes his hand around his necklace, the others doing the same, and a field of psychic energy is projected through the room, easily noticable to each of them. They all look around and let go of their stones, the field soon fading away.

Larisa speaks in awe. "Wow... I didn't expect that."

Samuel shakes his head. "Neither did I... I wonder what it really does."

Lasuno looks at him. "You should be careful though. Psychic energy is dangerous if it gets out of control..."

He nods slowly and looks at his necklace again, then smiles, happy to have made something the entire family can share...

- - - - -

~September 26, 2001~

Vincent is laying on his bed, his hands clasped together and lightly flickering as he tries to manipulate the flow of the Spiritual energy in his body to his control. He has decided that he should work on using this energy now, while he is still young and his task is yet to begin.

Messangers who are born into families to live mortal lives don't immediately get full control over their powers. While they are trained in the Spiritual Council to control them, they temporarily lose this knowledge when they are born, in order to protect themselves and others around them while they are growing up.

Vincent, like most Messangers, matures much faster than normal people in the world. Through a series of dreams he experiences during his life, he begins to remember who he is and what he was born in the world to acomplish. By the time Messangers reach the age of ten, they would often retain the full maturity and knowledge they had before they were born. Vincent, however, has often succeeded in doing this earlier. Such has made him able to act sooner than others ever could, and finish his tasks much faster.

Most who see Vincent in this world would think he is much older than he really is... which would not be far from the truth. However, he makes attempts to act his physical age, often failing to do so and making a fool out of himself. It is noticable that his siblings have also taken to his actions and grown to mature quicker.

As he continues to channel his energy, getting his physical body to adapt more to his power, he is interrupted by a girl's voice calling out to him from the doorway, which causes him to lose focus and shoot a streak across the room.

Quickly jumping back as the energy narrowly misses her, the girl blinks and slowly pokes her head back into the room. She looks very similar to Chrissa, however much younger and with straighter black hair. This is due to her using a hair straightener on a regular basis.

"V-Vincent? What was that..?"

Vincent sighs and lays his head back into his pillow. "Don't you knock, Christina?"

She walks into the room and folds her arms. "Are you playing with your necklace again? Mom says not to mess around with that."

He looks back at Christina. "I wasn't playing with my necklace. I was..."

"...Playing with your necklace. Don't try to lie, you're bad at it."

He rolls his eyes and puts his arms back behind his head. "So what are you gonna do then? Tell on me?"

She leans down and smacks his leg, making him jump and fold them both back. "Keep it up and I'll just consider that."

He stares at her with an annoyed look and she looks back, noticing a glimmer of light in his eyes and staring at them.

"...What?"

"What's wrong with your eyes?"

"Nothing's wrong with my eyes."

"They're glowing."

He sighs and looks up at the ceiling. "Right."

"They're creepy-looking. You gotta do something about that."

"Christina, my eyes are not-" He then looks at the mirror on the door and draws silent.

"See, they're glowing. What _did_ you do with your that thing?"

"I didn't do anything! This isn't from the necklace." Vincent sits up and stares into the mirror, his eyes flickering silver, then slowly fading back to normal. "...It's Spiritual energy..."

Christina rolls her eyes. "That stupid stuff again? Just admit you messed with it."

He looks back at her, then flicks his hand out, uttering a simple word, "_Aqua_," as a silver streak shoots from it, quickly turning into a torrent water and splashing all over her.

She jumps and is dumbfounded at what just happened. "You got me wet... What did you... Mom! Vincent's playing with his necklace!"

She storms out of the room and he sighs, laying back. "Lord Arceus, can't you show some mercy..? How can she be so naive?"

Shortly, Chrissa's voice is heard down the hall in response to Christina. "What do you mean, he's playing with his necklace? And why are you all wet?"

"He did something and splashed water on me!"

"Christina, dear, you can't do something like that with the stones. It looks more like he dumped a bucket of water on you."

A pause, and then Christina speaks up. "...Yeah, he did that."

Vincent grunts and puts his arms over his face. "She's just _trying_ to get me into trouble."

"Vincent?" Chrissa comes to the door and looks inside at him, and he brings his arms down to look back at her. "Did you pour water on your sister?"

"Yes, mother, with my imaginary bucket."

She pauses, then looks around the room and then back at Christina, just outside the door. "There's nothing here. Are you sure you didn't just hose yourself down and you're only saying this to get him in trouble?"

Christina groans. "Mom, I swear! He did something!"

Vincent sits up again and shakes his head. "Mother, it's the truth..."

She looks back at him, and Christina peeks around her to look.

After a short moment of hesitation, he puts his hands together, then brings them back apart, creating a ball of silver energy between them and the two step back.

"...That's certainly not something from the necklace."

He shakes his head, then throws his hand towards the window, repeating the spell as the ball is fired outside and turned into another torrent.

Chrissa blinks at the sight and looks back at him. "You really are one of them..."

He looks up at her for a moment, surprised that she caught on so quickly. "...How long have you..."

"Since you were born. You constantly affected electronics around you. So Sam finally got to doing some research online and came to a conclusion."

"I heard my name!" Samuel calls from the livingroom and she looks down at him.

"Just talking to our son, dear!"

He comes down the hall into the room and looks between them, then down at Christina. "...Why are you wet?"

She folds her arms and grunts, and Chrissa walks into the room to sit on one of the beds. "Sammy? Do you remember that article you found before? On those people..."

"The Messangers?"

Vincent turns to look at him silently and Chrissa nods. "...I think it's time we got to the bottom of this."

Samuel looks over at Vincent for a moment, which seems almost like an eternity, and he can feel his heart drop, knowing he can't hide it anymore.

"Dinner tonight. We'll discuss it then, when everyone's together."

Vincent slowly nods and Chrissa gets up, putting her hand on Vincent's shoulder and then walking out with Christina. "Come on, let's get you dry and into different clothes."

Vincent brings his legs up on the bed and rests his head on his knees, thinking to himself. Tonight, he'll have to tell them everything... 


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Discovering The Truth

"Dinner's ready!" Samuel calls as he sets plates up on the dining room table.

Vincent, who has been in his room the entire time, looks at the doorway for a bit, then sighs and gets up and goes out into the livingroom. He watches as everyone goes to the dining room, then jumps as he is poked on his shoulder, turning around.

Standing behind him is another boy, around the same height as him, with messy dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He is dressed in what looks like amateur scientist clothing, and has a high tech watch on his wrist.

Vincent smiles a bit and shakes his head. "So what'd you _create_ this time, Hector?"

Hector chuckles. "Nothing new. Still working. But word has it, you're the center of attention tonight. Something about a disorder."

Vincent eyes him. "...Oh? Who said that?"

Christina strolls into the room, speaking up. "I did!"

He stares at her for a bit. "Disorder, right... So who else did you tell this to, the neighbors?"

"Don't be silly. We don't have neighbors out here."

He rolls his eyes and Hector pats his shoulder as he walks by. "Come on, bro. Let's eat dinner."

Christina smiles and goes into the dining room, and he sighs and follows them, soon sitting down at the table.

Entering the room last is another girl, with very sleek black hair, seeming to be thinner and somewhat shorter than that of Christina's. She has a black hairpin in one side, and blue eyes like those of Vincent's.

She sits down at the table and looks around, Christina staring at her.

"What?"

"Your hair's so thin and pretty. I want it..." She reaches over and plays with the girl's hair, and she slaps her hand.

"Don't touch it, I just washed it."

Christina pouts. "You're mean, Melissa."

Chrissa looks at them and shakes her head. "Be nice, you two. We have something to discuss."

"Oh right, Vincent's disorder."

Vincent stares at her, unenthused at her comment. And Samuel taps his spoon on the table to get their attention, before speaking up as he scoops mashed potatoes out of a large bowl.

"Vincent does not have a disorder. Now would you simmer down for the moment and allow us to continue?"

Christina sits back in her chair and folds her arms. "Fine."

Samuel eyes her for a moment, then looks around at the others, before speaking again.

"Now, I'm sure everyone knows by now what this is about, as Christina has probably already informed us."

She sticks her tongue out and everyone stares at her, as she shifts in her chair awkwardly, then goes to take a chicken leg and put it on her plate. Samuel then continues as everyone else starts putting food on their plates.

"Throughout Vincent's life, I'm sure we have all noticed strange incidences around him. There came a time when I went online to research these occurences, and I came to a conclusion from what I've read. However, it was not yet confirmed until earlier today."

Hector interrupts, "So... he does have a disorder."

"It's not a disorder!" Vincent exclaims, causing everyone to jump a bit in surprise.

Chrissa puts her hand on his. "Calm down, dear. We know this. And the next person to say this will go without dinner."

The other three siblings then immediately fall silent, and Samuel proceeds.

"Earlier, Vincent used something which at first was thought to come from the necklace. However, after speaking with Lasuno and Chrissa about it, this was confirmed to be false. Though psychic energy can form illusions and affect matter in the area, it is not actually powerful enough to take on the form of other elements, such as water. So we had to come to another idea..."

Lasuno and Larisa listen to the conversation as they ear their fruit in the kitchen.

"I don't quite understand the entire meaning behind this, but I've discovered beings which seem to call themselves Messangers. This may be too much to understand at your ages, but..." Samuel pulls out a few sheets of paper with notes detailing certain aspects of the Messangers, and places them on the table.

"Spiritual prophets have gone into predicting the coming of a force from the afterlife and the spiritual plane, into this world. However, little to no proof has actually been given of these predictions. So many people have simply dismissed them."

Hector interrupts again after looking over the papers. "They spelled messenger wrong."

Vincent shakes his head. "Not messenger. It's a different concept... Just let him talk."

Samuel nods and speaks again. "I was actually going to allow you. Information about this is very hard to come by. But if you are what you say, then you should know much more about it than anyone else."

He slowly nods and sighs, rubbing his head a bit. "Dreams are still a bit scrambled, so don't mind if I get anything wrong... Messangers are born into this world like any other being. They are brought here of a natural birth. However, upon arrival, they must start anew. They lose all memory of who they are, and live a normal life."

He looks around at them. "...Well, as normal as they can be with what they have. Through a series of dreams they have while growing up, they begin to remember who they are."

Melissa shakes her head. "Wait, wait. So where do these dreams come from? Does someone give you them, like in the movies?"

"...No, not like that. Your immortal spiritual being still remembers everything. However, these memories don't pass into your physical form until later on. The activities of your normal life interferes with them, thus they happen in dreams... while you're asleep and in your most calm state."

She slowly nods. "That... makes sense, I guess. What's immortal?"

"It means it doesn't die," Chrissa answers.

Melissa blinks, then nods again.

Vincent takes a bite out of his food, then soon continues. "The idea of the Messangers is from the Spiritual Council, which as dad says, exists in the spiritual plane. Messangers are sent into different worlds to take on tasks, much like an angel is sent here to inform people of a coming calamity. A Messanger's role is to actually take action, in order to prevent this calamity."

"So you're... an Angel Plus." Christina giggles, and Hector smirks at the comment.

Vincent rolls his eyes, but can't help but smile at what she said. "Call it what you want. The concept's the same. Anyway... A Messanger is given a certain time to inform others of what will happen, so that they can all work together in order to stop it. Though the very idea of just who they are may cause a bit of disturbance and disbelief... It's much harder than merely telling people and getting them to do what's needed. Getting them to believe you... is a different story."

Chrissa nods slowly. "Had I not seen what I have over the years, I might not believe you, myself. But even now, it's hard to grasp..."

Vincent sighs a bit. "That's what I mean... But it has to be done, or the calamity will befall this world."

Samuel speaks up. "So... What is this said _calamity_, anyway?"

He blinks at the question, beginning to think about it. "No one... really knows. All I can guess from is the name of my task. The Temporal Task. Something to do with time... Time going out of control. Time..." He goes silent for a moment and everyone looks at him, and he utters another word. "...Stopping."

Chrissa thinks about what he said. "It... isn't entirely hard to believe. This family's been studying and training dragons for a long time. But we could never actually learn the concept of one of them..."

Vincent looks at her for a moment, realizing who she meant. "Dialga..."

She nods. "Yes... Apparently Dialga controls the flow of time, along with another dragon, who controls space. Palkia, I think..."

Vincent takes another bite of his food and then speaks up again. "Dialga and Palkia... controllers of time and space. They're deities who were brought about by Arceus in order to keep the very universe we live in intact. Without them, it would inevitably fall apart."

Hector shivers at the thought, then looks at him. "And I thought I knew it all... You got it down. No wonder you pass all your grades so easily."

Vincent smiles a bit and shrugs. "School's still boring."

Chrissa eyes him, then Samuel clears his throat and asks a question. "I never really understood one thing... So you finish this task, and you stop this calamity... What happens then?"

Vincent looks at him for a moment. "...I go back."

"You leave..."

He slowly nods, and the room falls completely silent as they take in this fact. The idea that he will eventually be leaving this world.

"...No." Samuel gets up and puts his napkin on the table, walking out of the room. Chrissa looks up at him, then quickly gets up and follows him.

"Sam, wait!" The two disappear down the hall, and Christina stairs at Vincent.

"Thanks for the bad news." She gets up, along with the others, and leaves the room. And Vincent pushes his plate forward, laying his head on the table.

Lasuno hovers slowly over to him and puts his paw on him. "You did the right thing in telling them now. It's better to do it sooner than later."

He looks up at him, his eyes teary. "I don't know what to do... I can't hurt them like this. I've put too many people through this already..."

"Then don't... Of all the things I've learned, one thing I know is... even through life and death, you have a choice, Vincent. You can choose whether or not to go back. And if you truly want to stay, then you can."

Vincent stares at him for a moment. It's true, he doesn't have to stay in the Spiritual Council. But he's also afraid of what may happen, should he leave.

After a short while, he takes his stone necklace and stares at it for a bit, then holds it in his hand, causing both Lasuno's and Larisa's to glow a light blue color.

In the two sisters' bedroom, Christina, who is on her bed, crying, slowly looks down at her own necklace as it glows light blue. She picks it up and sniffs, sitting up and looking at Melissa, whose necklace is doing the same.

Melissa looks back at her and sighs, slowly getting up from her bed and holding her hand out. "Come on... Let's go see him."

She slowly nods and takes her hand, getting up and they both walk out of the room, seeing Hector leaving his and Vincent's room and looking at them. His necklace has the same glow as theirs.

In Chrissa and Samuel's room, the two are sitting on the bed, Chrissa's arms wrapped around Samuel as he is rested against her, in almost a breakdown.

Soon, both of their necklaces begin to glow as Chrissa looks down at them, then taps Samuel's shoulder and he opens his eyes to look.

They then look back at each other, and Chrissa nods to him and they get up to go out.

After a short while, Vincent looks up to see his siblings at the entrance of the room. He then gets up and walks over to them, seeing Chrissa and Samuel coming into the livingroom. He looks at them all and takes a short breath.

"I'm going to make a promise to you all..."

They all remain quiet and listen to him as he speaks.

"When my task is over, and I return to the Spiritual World... I will find my way back here, to see you all again. I promise, I will not leave you..."

Soon, Christina slowly nods and steps forward, then hugs him tightly. "You better not leave us, Vincent..."

He returns the hug, and after a short time, she goes back and looks at him, and he nods to her in assurance. "I promise..."

She smiles a bit, and the others come over and hug him, a family hug, assured of his return, when the time comes...

- - - - -

"You've been keeping him hidden for quite a while, haven't you? Your persistence is becoming rather annoying... I came to you, believing that you would lead me straight to him. But you've shown so much resistance, even through the deaths of many in your little group."

"Perhaps you should... give up then... It's obvious we wouldn't tell you where we is... even if we knew."

The shadowy individual smirks and puts his hand on the wounded person, who is strapped to a stake.

"You couldn't be more right about that. That's why I'll take the liberty of eliminating each and every one of you. You serve no further purpose to me."

He steps back and his eyes flicker with a green light, the person closing his eyes tightly as he throws his hand out, releasing a green streak of energy, followed by the words, "_Expello Phasmatis_!"

And that was the end of him. The killing curse took its effect immediately, and the person dropped his head, his limp body still bound to the stake as the individual walks out, setting the shack ablaze and burning each dead and wounded person inside.

"I'll find you, in time. You can't stay hidden forever..." 


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - An Old Friend

~March 11, 2004~

"Vincent? You've been on there for quite a while. Why don't you say goodbye to your friend and shut it down?"

"One moment, mother." Vincent, who has been talking to someone over an instant messaging client on Chrissa's laptop, interrupts his conversation to send a message that he needs to leave.

"Well, you still have your phone, don't you?"

Vincent then responds with another message. "Of course I do, James. I'll talk to you more on there."

"Right then. Send me a message and we'll talk more."

And on the response, he closes the program and sets the laptop to shut down, closing the lid. He then gets up from the chair and nods to Chrissa, walking out of the room.

Several weeks prior to this day, Vincent had heard of another individual whom was talked about to be similar to him. So he asked Chrissa to use her laptop in order to search online for any traces of the person. And what he found was more than he expected... A direct address to contact James over a messaging service.

Since then, he has been talking to him on both the messenger and his own cellphone.

As he goes into his room and sits down on his bed, it is seen from the window that it is night. The clock on his phone shows 10:34pm. A logo shows 'Silph Networks' in metallic style lettering, over a dark blue background, which is set to represent the time of night. He figures it would be best to sleep soon, so he tells James that he'll be ending the conversation early.

"I should probably be going soon as well. I need to start getting up earlier if I'm going to go over there."

Vincent responds to the text message, "You did manage to convince him then?"

"Jack's a handful, but he'll do what I want with the right motivation."

Vincent raises a brow and replies again. "Motivation?"

"I told the Silph Corporation is hosting a convention in Saffron in a few days, and him being so into technology, he wanted to go there."

Vincent smiles a bit and shakes his head. "And you being in Cianwood, I guess I'm right in the way."

"That's the idea. So pretty soon, we get to see each other. And I get to meet your family."

Vincent looks over at Hector, who is asleep on the bed on the other side of the room, then back at the message on his phone and replies after a short moment. "I'm sure they'll be delighted to meet you. Though my brother may like to go to that convention too. Maybe if Jack will take him for a while and mother lets him go."

"Hah, I remember Hector. Who knows, maybe he'll be nice and take him along. I also have a present for you. Jack made it a while ago, but it wasn't up to his expectations, so he wanted to scrap it. I convinced him otherwise."

Vincent reads the message in curiosity. "Oh? What is it?"

"You'll just have to see when I give it to you. You'll love it. But Jack wants me to get to sleep now. He expects me to get on a timely schedule so we're up early for him to go. Says it'll take a couple days, and if we don't waste time, he can be there before it starts."

Vincent rolls onto his back and replies to James again. "Alright. I'll talk to you tomorrow then. Good night, James."

"Good night, Vincent."

He then puts his phone on the desk next to his bed and stretches out, looking around the dark room. "I guess I'd better sleep too... I just hope I can..."

He rolls over again and looks out the window. The sky is clear and a mass of stars can be seen, along with the moon which gives a small illuminating glow in the night sky. Even as simple as he lives, he always likes to wonder what this world holds for him in places outside Pallet.

Shortly, he rolls onto his other side and closes his eyes, soon falling asleep.

- - - - -

"A Messanger... I was told your kind would come to this world. But I did not expect one such as you to find me... You are not the one I was supposed to meet, are you?"

"No... The one you've been seeking is not me. However, I am trying to find him. I fear that he may soon be in danger..."

"So I have expected. I just hope we can find him before it is too late. Perhaps if we search together, we may help one another in finding him."

"I was thinking that might be wise. Very well, then... I'll go with you."

"What is your name, Messanger?"

"...My name is Lucas Crane."

- - - - -

~March 14, 2004~

"Come on, pipsqueak. We're gonna be late."

James digs through his drawers, until he finally finds a small box, and pulls it out. "Aha. Found it."

"I'm gonna leave without you!"

He jumps up and looks out the bedroom door. "I'm coming, Jack! Sheesh, you're so impatient!" He runs out of the room and into the garage, which looks completely packed with metal parts and various electronic objects. Waiting for him is a man of average height, with short black hair and dark purple eyes. He is wearing what would look like normal clothing, except for the various tools and high-tech gadgets attached to different areas of his grey jacket and black pants.

"Any longer and I would've left you here, James."

He rolls his eyes and Jack walks over to a small vehicle, which looks similar to a silver motorcycle, but it has no wheels. Instead are large circular pads mounted to the front and back of it, which sit flat on the ground. Painted on the sides are various different designs in dark colors to contrast to the rest of the vehicle.

He gets on and James climbs on behind him, putting the box inside a compartment in the back and then holding onto him.

"...James, how many times do I have to tell you, get your feet off the ground or you'll lose them."

James rolls his eyes and puts his feet up on the small mounts on each side, then Jack puts his key in the ignition and starts up the vehicle. And immediately, a large amount of heat emits from the two pads and it lifts up into the air, flying out of the garage. Jack then taps a button on it and the door closes behind them as they take off into the sky.

- - - - -

~March 15, 2004~

"I'm going out, mother! I'll be back soon!"

"Okay, don't be too long. You don't want to miss meeting your friend."

"Don't worry, I won't miss him."

Vincent goes outside and looks around, then runs down the stairs of the patio and out into the fields. He pulls out his phone and sees two text messages received on it.

He opens the first, sent at 5:08am, and reads it. "Hey, Vincent. We left Violet early and are coming close to you. I hope you're awake."

He then looks at the next message. "Vincent, wake up already! We're at New Bark, so get out of bed already!"

He then looks at the time sent, 6:28am. It is now 7:04am, meaning James would already be very close. He rubs his eyes a bit, then replies.

"Sorry, I overslept. I'm outside right now. Just tell me when you get to the town."

He puts his phone away and stretches, then hears a high ringing behind him, turning to look as a small hovercraft comes down from the sky and flies off a distance, before landing on a nearby sidewalk, away from the grassy field.

James quickly gets off, then immediately jumps and run away from the craft and falls into the grass. Jack rolls his eyes and looks down at him.

"You impatient twit. You know the air above the ground is very hot when we first land. I don't want to have to replace your shoes again because you decided to rush off and they melted."

James sits up and beams at him. "You're more worried about my shoes than my burning feet. I see how it is." Vincent blinks and walks towards them.

"My apologies, I just can't feel remorse for idiots who get what they deserve."

James gets up and folds his arms. "I love you too, Jackie."

Jack smirks and takes a box and tosses it to him, then puts his hand on the handlebars again. "Yeah yeah. I'd love to stay and chat with your friend, but I'm gonna be late as it is. I'll come get you tomorrow. Don't get into too much trouble."

They hear shouting from the house and Hector runs out, looking overly prepared for this occasion. Jack looks at him curiously, then realizes who he is. He pants as he reaches them. "Sorry, I hope I'm not too late..."

Jack looks down at him from the craft, somewhat surprised at the many things he has on him. "You're... Hector, right?"

He looks up at him and nods. "Yeah, that's me. Jack?"

Jack nods, then smiles. "Hurry, we have no time to waste."

Hector quickly runs over and gets onto the craft, looking back at Vincent. "Tell mom that I left already. Don't worry, I'll be good."

Vincent slowly nods, and Jack looks back at him for a moment. "...Feet off the ground."

Hector blinks and looks down, then puts his feet up and looks back at Jack, who shifts the gear on the craft forward, and it lifts into the air again, before flying off as James and Vincent watch.

Vincent then finally speaks up, causing James to jump from his sudden voice. "That's your brother, huh?"

"Don't surprise me like that! I didn't even know you were there."

Vincent looks at him, chuckling a bit. "Sorry, I guess I should've warned you."

James nudges him, then tosses the box to him and he looks at it curiously, opening it up to reveal what looks like an advanced cellphone. He pulls it out and looks it over, seeing that it would closely resemble that of an Android, which have rarely been seen in the world.

"Is this what you were talking about..?"

He nods and smiles. "Jack spent a few months modeling that and setting it up. It actually works quite well and does a few nifty things, but he just didn't think it was good enough for him. I think it'll do good for you though. All you have to do is transfer service from your phone to it and you'll be set."

Vincent smiles a bit and puts his hand on James' shoulder. "Thanks, it's a great gift."

James nods, then pulls out a similar, but more advanced, phone to it. "This one, Jack made for me. I quite like it."

He chuckles a bit, then puts the phone and its cord in his pocket, then walks back to the house, James following. He has never been much into phones, and has used them for only communication. But he is deciding to try it. After all, it couldn't hurt him.

As they get to the house, they are stopped by another voice and then turn to see Christina running towards them from the town. Samuel is seen behind her as he jumps down from Sierra and runs after her. The Flygon watches them and then flies off into the sky again.

"You're rather early... Did you really take the first meeting time?"

She smiles and nods. "Of course I did. I got up bright and early and dragged dad out of bed to take me."

Samuel yawns, then looks at her and pokes her shoulder. "Bright and early... You woke me up at three in the morning just for that. And you simply wouldn't let me go back to sleep."

She looks up at him. "Sorry, dad... I was excited."

"Well, you're lucky it was for such an occasion or I wouldn't have done it."

James looks between them, confused, and Vincent speaks up. "So... what did they say?"

She looks back at him and smiles, looking almost ecstatic. "They accepted me! I'm in! Starting next week, I'll be taking music classes in Saffron. Aerthos and Sierra have already agreed to give me a ride there and back, and keep watch so mom and dad don't have to wake up so early anymore."

"Which means I can sleep again..." Samuel walks by them, then stops and looks at James for a moment. "You must be... James, right?"

He nods and holds his hand out, Samuel shaking it. "Pleasure to meet you, sir."

Samuel smiles and nods to him. "Always good to meet friends of Vincent. You seem quite mature for your age too. Just like him."

James chuckles a bit and shrugs. "Fast growing these days, huh?"

"Of course..." Samuel then looks at Vincent. "I guess Hector's already gone then, if your friend's here, right?"

He nods, and Samuel sighs. "That boy's so persistent. But that's a good thing. He pursues his dreams and interests." He then yawns again and opens the door to the house. "Now I'm gonna go back to sleep for an hour or so. I need to catch up on my sleep."

They watch as he goes in, followed by Christina and Vincent calls to her. "Hey, sis."

She stops and looks at him, holding the door open.

"Congrats on getting in. I'm happy for you."

She smiles. "Thanks, Vincent. I'll try my best."

He nods, then she goes inside and he looks back at James. "...So."

James blinks and looks back at him. "So?"

"We... could go to the Western Forest. I haven't been there in a while."

James looks across the field at the nearby forest, staring at it for a bit. "You do realize that place has been known to be dangerous, right? Even people in Johto refuse to go in there. It would take a skilled trainer to even make it through there in one piece."

"Pfft. Pokemon Trainers are overrated these days. Putting pokemon into little pokeballs and carrying them around isn't a good way to treat them. They should be raised with care and allowed to roam free when they please."

James snickers a bit. "You really must have been born a pokemon before. You have that distinguishing nature that people normally don't have."

Vincent shrugs. "If only I knew." He then walks away from the house and James follows him. "Either way, I'm sure we'll be fine. The rumors talk about a Celebi living there, and I've read some things about them. They don't seem all that bad."

"Well, if we notice something, we should get out while we can. I'm still not all that comfortable about this, Vincent..."

- - - - -

"I see him now... He's going into the forest."

"Good. Approach him carefully. Attacking directly would be a foolish move, especially on him..."

- - - - -

"See, there's nothing scary about this place. It's just really messy and hard to just walk through."

James looks around, then sits down. "I guess you're right. But man... I've never hiked through such a place like this. I need a break."

Vincent nods slowly and sits down by another tree, then looks at him. "Hey. Do you know anything about your task yet?"

He shakes his head. "The Peace Messanger... Such a name doesn't really tell me anything. But I have read up on some things. Apparently two different countries are wavering and starting to turn against each other. So maybe my task is to make 'peace' between them? I don't know..."

"Make peace between two countries... How do you even get that many people to listen to you?"

James shrugs and leans back against the tree. "I dunno. But what about your task, Vincent? Have you learned anything about it?"

"I'm not sure... All I can convey is that it would have something to do with Dialga, the ruler of Time. I get the feeling I may have to meet him, eventually... But how I'll meet him, I have no idea. I just hope we can finish our tasks before it's too late."

James nods, then twitches when he hears a pile of dead leaves crumble behind them. He quickly gets up, and Vincent does the same, the two looking around.

"...Did you hear that, Vincent?"

"Yeah... I get the feeling we're not alone here. Someone's definitely watching us."

After looking around a bit more, a green flash comes from behind a nearby tree, and a streak of energy is shot towards Vincent, James immediately seeing it and throwing his hand out. "_Praesidio_!"

Vincent jumps back as the green energy hits an invisible sheild in front of him and dissipates. He looks in the direction it came from. "Was that..."

"That was a spell that almost hit you. No question about it."

"Then that means..."

The two immediately release a silver stream of energy, which quickly forms into two swords, each curved in a way that the back ends have three points and the front, sharp end curves inward to a point at the top. In the hilt is a glowing blue gem, shining brightly with Spiritual energy.

Vincent quickly swings his sword, parrying another attack from a pitch black sword, and throwing his assailant back. In front of him now is a man cloaked in all black and a hood over his head to where his face can barely be seen. And two others in the same cloaks come out of hiding, surrounding them.

"These people... Could they be..."

"Vincent, watch out!"

Vincent quickly ducks forward as one of the men jumps at him from behind in an attempt to slash him with his sword. He then spins around, swinging his sword and taking a direct hit to his stomach. The man gasps and he looks up at him as he vanishes into a dark cloud, which quickly fades away.

The other two men stay where they are, now growing more cautious as one of their own as been quickly slain. Vincent then stands up and looks around at them, growling a bit. "What brings them here..?"

They step forward and Vincent and James back up closer to each other, watching them closely.

"I don't know, but they're clearly after us."

One of them throws his hand out, firing another streak of energy at James, and he quickly swings his sword to deflect it. The other man then releases another streak, followed by the words, "_Expello Phasmatis_!" And Vincent, immediately hearing him, quickly holds his sword in the way, causing the spell to bounce off it and hit a nearby tree. Upon contact, the tree is seen to gradually whither away as if it has grown completely dehydrated.

James turns to him, growling. "How dare you use that on my friend!"

He then runs ahead and Vincent calls out, "James, wait!" as the other person who was facing him fires the same spell. Vincent swings his sword in the way, causing it to backfire and hit the caster, killing him immediately as he fades away like the first one did.

James jumps forward, using one of his selected abilities of Speedster to quickly reach him and slash at him. The man, taken off guard, is sent back from the force of the attack, not taking as much damage as the first one did, but still wounded. He staggers, sticking his sword into the ground as he nearly falls over and catches himself. But he is given no chance to fight back as Vincent swings his sword out and releases a blade of energy to finish him off, making him fade like the others.

The two pant a bit from the sudden attack and look at each other. And Vincent speaks in a low tone.

"Them being here means this world has become far more dangerous than we thought... We'll have to be very careful, from now on."

James slowly nods and casts his sword away, Vincent doing the same. "Let's not tell anyone of this. They will just get in the way and be led into unnecessary harm..."

"Right... Let's head back. I get the feeling these ones will leave traces. We should get out of here, immediately."

James nods again, and the two run off, leaving the forest to go back to the house.

- - - - -

"Heheheh... I found you..." 


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - Doomed Fate

~November 3, 2006~

"I'll be back, father! I'm going to the market!"

"Alright, Vincent, be back in time for supper."

Vincent walks out the front door and looks around outside, before going off into the town to buy a few supplies.

- - - - -

"You... dared try to attack me? You're a courageous one, I must admit. And quite powerful too... But your courage also led to stupidity."

A Moltres lies on the ground, wounded as it stares up at the shadowy individual, who walks slowly towards it and kneels down. His clothes, which seemed to be charred at first, have quickly restored to normal and the burns on his body have healed.

"I'm rather tempted to end you right here. However, you may just become useful... After witnessing your power, I've decided that you are just what I need for this very situation."

The Moltres blinks and stares him in the eyes, uncertain of what he means but also somewhat nervous. He grins as he places his hand on the bird pokemon's long beak, and his eyes glow green.

"That's right, don't avert your gaze..."

The Moltres then lets out a loud squawk as its own eyes flash the same color as his, cringing and closing its eyes as its will is quickly overtaken due to its injuries, and it is forced under the individual's control.

"Heheh... That was much easier than I expected. You'll make such a good pet." His hand then glows as he spreads an energy through the pokemon, recovering it of its injuries as it opens its eyes again.

"...Come. Let us get to work." He jumps onto the Moltres' back and it squawks loudly, before lifting from the ground and taking off into the sky, leaving the Indigo Mountains.

Lucas, who had just come to the area as they left, growls a bit. "We're too late..."

A Salamence looks at him with a somewhat worried look, and he puts his hand on the dragon pokemon's neck. "It's not your fault, my friend... But we must make haste. I have a feeling that he already knows of his whereabouts."

He gets on the Salamence's back, but is then stopped by another creature. He looks towards it, then shakes his head. "I must go after him alone. If you follow, you will draw too much attention."

"...Very well then, Lucas. But be very cautious. I do not like this a bit..."

He nods slowly, then pats the Salamence and he takes off, following the individual towards the south.

- - - - -

Vincent walks back from the market, carrying two bags of groceries as he goes towards his home. Meanwhile, he is talking to James via messaging on his phone. It is something he has been doing nearly every day since he was given it as a gift. But his attention is soon drawn away as he notices several people in the area, looking towards the sky.

He stops and looks around at them, then follows their gaze as he looks up, noticing what looks like a large, flaming bird flying in the distance. After looking at it for a bit, he soon realizes what it is.

"...A Moltres? What is such a pokemon doing in a place like this?"

Another person, who overhears him, speaks up, causing him to jump a bit at the voice. "Moltres is known to fly through the skies of Kanto. But few have ever actually seen it in real life."

He looks at the person, noticing him to be a somewhat elderly man with a white lab coat. "Oh... Professor Oak, I didn't even notice you."

The pokemon professor smiles at him and nods. "Apologies, young man. I heard about this event and couldn't help but come out and see it for myself. It's a rare gift to witness the arrival of a legendary pokemon."

Vincent slowly nods, then looks back up at it, seeing that it's getting closer to the town. He hears many people speaking amongst themselves about it, but then quickly remembers what he was originally doing.

"I have to get going. My family's expecting me." Professor Oak nods and waves to him as he runs off, to the outskirts of the town. In the meantime, he is keeping his eyes on the Moltres, which seems to now be circling the town as if looking for something.

"What could it be doing...?"

- - - - -

"You certainly are legendary to these people, aren't you? Good... While we have their attention, why don't we put on a little show? If my memory serves me right, it's... there."

The individual points towards in the western part of the town, and the Moltres immediately flies towards it. However, after a short time of flying, he notices another pokemon approaching, looking closely at it and then growling.

"How did I know he would trail me here?"

- - - - -

"Oh dear... A Salamence in this area? Now that is a bit unheard of." Professor Oak looks in the direction of the two pokemon in the sky, noticing them to be over a specific part of the town now.

"It couldn't belong to the family of dragon trainers, could it? But then why is it..."

- - - - -

Vincent stares up at the two, beginning to get an unnerving feeling as he now picks up speed towards his house.

- - - - -

"Time's served you well, hasn't it Lucas?"

Lucas glares at the person from the back of the Salamence, saying nothing.

"...I've finally found the location of Vincent. Do you know what happens now?"

Lucas looks down towards the house below. "...Vincent. So it has been you, all along..."

"Took you long enough to realize, Lucas. But it's too late now. On this day, the final Temporal Messanger shall fall, and the task will come to its ultimate end."

Lucas averts his gaze back to the individual and growls. "You won't do such a thing... Salamence!"

Salamence fires a Dragonbreath at the Moltres, who swiftly dodges the attack and then the individual taps him. In response, the fire pokemon's wings flare up brightly and it releases a powerful Fire Blast towards the house before Lucas gets a chance to make another action.

- - - - -

Vincent, seeing the sudden attack by the Moltres, stops and gasps as an unbelievable occurance happens. His home has now been struck by the attack, and quickly bursts into flames.

"...This didn't just happen..."

Immediately upon instinct, he rushes to the house, seeing all three of his siblings running out. He goes over to them and throws down his bag.

"Are you all okay?"

Christina coughs a bit and pants. "I-I think so... Where's mom and dad?"

They look around, and Vincent realizes that they're still inside. "They didn't come out yet..!" He runs towards it, then stops and turns back to them. "Get Aerthos and Sierra down here! We need to put out this fire! I'll try to find mom and dad!"

They nod, then Vincent runs inside the house, looking around. "Mom! Dad! Are you in here!?"

No response is heard. He frantically searches through the rooms in search of them, until finally reaching Chrissa and Samuel's bedroom, where the two are seen lying on the ground, with burns and other injuries from the flames. He runs over to them, seeing that Samuel's are far more severe.

"Mom..? Dad, are you okay?"

Chrissa gasps a bit and looks up at him. "Vincent... Samuel... didn't make it..."

Vincent's heart drops after hearing this, and he looks at Samuel. "No... That can't be true..."

"You need to get out..."

He clenches his fists and then takes her arm, getting her to her feet and then putting her over his back to escort her out. "I'm not leaving you here, mom."

Chrissa pants and tries to hold on as Vincent walks out of the room as quickly as he can. As they go down the hallway, Chrissa begins to hear a cracking sound, and immediately acts upon it, using what energy she has to jump and kick Vincent away before the ceiling caves in.

The only thing Vincent can hear from her is a loud shriek as he falls to the floor a distance away. He quickly gets back up and looks back, seeing that she is now buried under the burning wood.

"...Dammit... Mom!"

"Vincent! There you are!"

He turns to see Larisa and Lasuno flying to him. Larisa is carrying Amber in her arms as the smaller Latias appears to be unconscious.

"We have to get out of here! The entire house is going to collapse!"

Vincent growls deeply, then looks back at the fallen wood, a tear falling from him. "I'm so sorry..."

He then turns and runs out, the others following as they make it out of the house. The ceiling above the livingroom caves in behind them as they barely escape. Vincent runs down from the patio and drops to his knees in the grass, coughing from the exposure to the smoke.

Christina and the other siblings run over to him and Melissa kneels down to him. "Did you see them in there..?"

Vincent clenches his fists in the grass, crying. "They didn't make it, Melissa..."

Christina gasps, in shock at what she heard. "What!? No! That's not possible!"

Hector looks back at the house, then growls. "What kind of cruel joke is this? I want to know who did this!"

Vincent slowly comes to his feet and turns his gaze up to the sky, where the Moltres is still flying over them. And the others look towards it as well.

- - - - -

"What a pity... He didn't die from that. I always knew you Messangers had nine lives."

Lucas growls deeply. "You inferior creature... You'll pay for that."

The individual sneers and turns back towards him. "Oh really? Come and get me then, if you're so confident."

Lucas pats Salamence, who charges forward, and the individual smirks, casting a black sword in his hands and then swinging it out, creating a powerful sheet of dark energy that flies towards them.

Salamence, unable to react to this, is struck by the energy and is knocked down. The Moltres then fires a Flamethrower and Lucas responds by creating a barrier of energy. Salamence then regains his composure, and flies forward once more. And the individual's eyes glow before he throws his hand out. "_Arteriam_!"

A large burst of compressed energy comes from his hand, hitting Salamence off guard, and sending him off into the sky. And the individual smirks. "Heheh... I love explosive endings."

- - - - -

Vincent growls and his body becomes engulfed in silver energy as he then focuses it, glaring up at the Moltres. The others look at him, becoming curious, and the individual turns down towards him.

"Oh..? Show me what you've got then, young Messanger." He pats the Moltres, and it charges another Fire Blast, before releasing it at full power.

Everyone ducks out of the way, but Vincent stands his ground and then releases a wave of energy to hold the attack back. He then casts a sword in his hand while maintaining the energy, and swings it out to release a blade that knocks the Fire Blast back at the Moltres.

The individual, seeing this, quickly jumps off and cloaks himself in dark energy as he fades away before the bird pokemon is struck with its own attack. It lets out a loud squawk and what seems to be a small green burst comes from its body, before it closes its eyes and shakes its head.

The spell over it is now broken, and the Moltres slowly opens its eyes, looking around and then flying off.

Vincent then falls back down after the large amount of energy he used, and the others quickly go over to him. The threat is now gone, but what happened can never be reversed. Chrissa and Samuel will never come back after this.

- - - - -

~Hours later, at sunset~

"Were you able to locate the bodies?"

The fireman nods and looks back at the remains of the house. "They're pulling them out right now. It's unfortunate that they couldn't be saved though. I feel really bad for these kids..."

Vincent, who has been sitting on the bumper of one of the fire trucks, looks towards what used to be his home and sighs. Christina looks at him, then soon gives him a tight hug, and he closes his eyes, holding back his tears.

"I couldn't save them... I was right there and I couldn't do a thing..."

"Vincent... Don't put this on yourself. You did what you could," Christina says.

He hits his fist against the truck. "But it wasn't enough!"

Melissa turns to him and smacks him. "Would you quit blaming yourself? None of us were able to stop this from happening! We all lost our parents! So quit making this just about you!"

Vincent glares at her, and she goes to sit by him. "We're all suffering from this, Vincent. But do you think mom and dad would want us to mourn over this forever? I'm sorry for hitting you, but you've got to get a hold of yourself..."

Hector comes over and looks at them. "It may not be much, but..." He places his hand around his own necklace, causing the others to glow with a yellow light, and they look at them. "Do you remember when these were given to us?"

Vincent looks back at him in silence, and Christina speaks quietly. "Mom and dad said this was our family bond... That we could never be separated with them."

Hector nods. "They'll always be with us..."

Vincent stares at him for a bit, then gets up and walks off. And Christina looks at him. "Where are you going?"

"I have to find something. I'll be back."

He then goes to the house and ducks under the caution tape surrounding it, walking inside. A nearby fireman looks at him and shouts out, "Hey, you can't go in there!"

But he ignores him and continues, going into the livingroom. He looks around, then goes to a small dresser, kneeling down to it and opening one of the drawers. He then pulls out a box and opens it, seeing the white necklace still completely intact.

"It _is_ still here..." He takes the necklace and sets the box down, then puts it in his pocket, getting up again and looking around. The fireman runs into the house and looks at him.

"Hey, I know you're going through a lot right now, but you can't be in here. It's too dangerous."

Vincent looks at him for a moment, eventually nodding a bit and then walking back outside with him. He goes back over to the others and they look back at him.

"...I won't stay here."

Christina stares at him. "So you're really going through with it then..."

"I have no choice, Christina. I know the one who attacked us has something to do with the task. I have to find them and stop them before it's too late. Otherwise what happened will only be the beginning of something far worse."

Christina sighs and leans back against the truck. "You know, I really hate that you're a Messanger. I wish we could just live a normal life."

Vincent goes over to her and puts his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Christina... When it's all over, we can. And we'll be able to be happy. Just give it some time."

She looks at him for a bit, before finally uttering, "...Okay."

He then hugs her, then looks back at the others. Larisa then flies over to him. He looks at her curiously, noticing someone missing. "Where's Lasuno?"

"He went to take Amber to Altomare... He wants to help, but he doesn't want her to have to get involved. I'm still worried that she may have lost her memory from the fire. She didn't seem to know who any of you were when she woke up..."

Vincent sighs and shakes his head. "I hope she'll get better. But at this point, it may be for better that she doesn't know what's happening. She may try to go with us."

Larisa slowly nods. "I'm sure she'll remember eventually..."

He nods and looks back at Christina and the others. "I'm going to take the Western Forest into Johto. I want to try and get a hold of James in Cianwood. He may be able to help."

Christina nods a bit and stands up. "Alright then... I'll search around to see if I can find anything that might help. If you're going to do this, you're not doing it alone."

Melissa jumps down from the top of the truck and looks at them. "I'll go with Christina. I'm sure Aerthos and Sierra can take us to search from the sky." She looks at the two dragon pokemon nearby, who nod to her.

Hector gets up from the ground and stretches a bit. "Don't leave me out."

Christina looks at him. "But how would you get around? I don't think they can carry all three of us."

Larisa shakes her head. "Lasuno will be coming back soon... He might be able to help. I'll go with Vincent though. He shouldn't wander alone after everything that's happened..."

Vincent turns to her, almost wanting to tell her not to but knowing she's made up her mind. So he goes over to her and strokes her neck. "Just be careful, Larisa... I don't want you putting yourself in a position where you'll be in danger."

She smiles a bit and nuzzles him. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. You just worry about yourself."

He slowly nods and looks back towards the others. "Okay... So we know our course of action. Everyone just try to be safe and don't do anything rash. If you get a hint of danger, don't take any chances. From here, we're all on our own."

Christina pokes him. "I know that. You don't have to be so dramatic."

Vincent sighs. "I just don't want anything to happen to any of you, okay?"

"We'll be fine. Stop worrying so much, you'll give yourself a heart attack."

Melissa goes and hugs him, and he soon returns it. "Let's just make mom and dad proud, alright?"

He looks at her for a bit, then slowly nods and smiles. "Of course... I'll do anything for that." ~November 3, 2006~

"I'll be back, father! I'm going to the market!"

"Alright, Vincent, be back in time for supper."

Vincent walks out the front door and looks around outside, before going off into the town to buy a few supplies.

- - - - -

"You... dared try to attack me? You're a courageous one, I must admit. And quite powerful too... But your courage also led to stupidity."

A Moltres lies on the ground, wounded as it stares up at the shadowy individual, who walks slowly towards it and kneels down. His clothes, which seemed to be charred at first, have quickly restored to normal and the burns on his body have healed.

"I'm rather tempted to end you right here. However, you may just become useful... After witnessing your power, I've decided that you are just what I need for this very situation."

The Moltres blinks and stares him in the eyes, uncertain of what he means but also somewhat nervous. He grins as he places his hand on the bird pokemon's long beak, and his eyes glow green.

"That's right, don't avert your gaze..."

The Moltres then lets out a loud squawk as its own eyes flash the same color as his, cringing and closing its eyes as its will is quickly overtaken due to its injuries, and it is forced under the individual's control.

"Heheh... That was much easier than I expected. You'll make such a good pet." His hand then glows as he spreads an energy through the pokemon, recovering it of its injuries as it opens its eyes again.

"...Come. Let us get to work." He jumps onto the Moltres' back and it squawks loudly, before lifting from the ground and taking off into the sky, leaving the Indigo Mountains.

Lucas, who had just come to the area as they left, growls a bit. "We're too late..."

A Salamence looks at him with a somewhat worried look, and he puts his hand on the dragon pokemon's neck. "It's not your fault, my friend... But we must make haste. I have a feeling that he already knows of his whereabouts."

He gets on the Salamence's back, but is then stopped by another creature. He looks towards it, then shakes his head. "I must go after him alone. If you follow, you will draw too much attention."

"...Very well then, Lucas. But be very cautious. I do not like this a bit..."

He nods slowly, then pats the Salamence and he takes off, following the individual towards the south.

- - - - -

Vincent walks back from the market, carrying two bags of groceries as he goes towards his home. Meanwhile, he is talking to James via messaging on his phone. It is something he has been doing nearly every day since he was given it as a gift. But his attention is soon drawn away as he notices several people in the area, looking towards the sky.

He stops and looks around at them, then follows their gaze as he looks up, noticing what looks like a large, flaming bird flying in the distance. After looking at it for a bit, he soon realizes what it is.

"...A Moltres? What is such a pokemon doing in a place like this?"

Another person, who overhears him, speaks up, causing him to jump a bit at the voice. "Moltres is known to fly through the skies of Kanto. But few have ever actually seen it in real life."

He looks at the person, noticing him to be a somewhat elderly man with a white lab coat. "Oh... Professor Oak, I didn't even notice you."

The pokemon professor smiles at him and nods. "Apologies, young man. I heard about this event and couldn't help but come out and see it for myself. It's a rare gift to witness the arrival of a legendary pokemon."

Vincent slowly nods, then looks back up at it, seeing that it's getting closer to the town. He hears many people speaking amongst themselves about it, but then quickly remembers what he was originally doing.

"I have to get going. My family's expecting me." Professor Oak nods and waves to him as he runs off, to the outskirts of the town. In the meantime, he is keeping his eyes on the Moltres, which seems to now be circling the town as if looking for something.

"What could it be doing...?"

- - - - -

"You certainly are legendary to these people, aren't you? Good... While we have their attention, why don't we put on a little show? If my memory serves me right, it's... there."

The individual points towards in the western part of the town, and the Moltres immediately flies towards it. However, after a short time of flying, he notices another pokemon approaching, looking closely at it and then growling.

"How did I know he would trail me here?"

- - - - -

"Oh dear... A Salamence in this area? Now that is a bit unheard of." Professor Oak looks in the direction of the two pokemon in the sky, noticing them to be over a specific part of the town now.

"It couldn't belong to the family of dragon trainers, could it? But then why is it..."

- - - - -

Vincent stares up at the two, beginning to get an unnerving feeling as he now picks up speed towards his house.

- - - - -

"Time's served you well, hasn't it Lucas?"

Lucas glares at the person from the back of the Salamence, saying nothing.

"...I've finally found the location of Vincent. Do you know what happens now?"

Lucas looks down towards the house below. "...Vincent. So it has been you, all along..."

"Took you long enough to realize, Lucas. But it's too late now. On this day, the final Temporal Messanger shall fall, and the task will come to its ultimate end."

Lucas averts his gaze back to the individual and growls. "You won't do such a thing... Salamence!"

Salamence fires a Dragonbreath at the Moltres, who swiftly dodges the attack and then the individual taps him. In response, the fire pokemon's wings flare up brightly and it releases a powerful Fire Blast towards the house before Lucas gets a chance to make another action.

- - - - -

Vincent, seeing the sudden attack by the Moltres, stops and gasps as an unbelievable occurance happens. His home has now been struck by the attack, and quickly bursts into flames.

"...This didn't just happen..."

Immediately upon instinct, he rushes to the house, seeing all three of his siblings running out. He goes over to them and throws down his bag.

"Are you all okay?"

Christina coughs a bit and pants. "I-I think so... Where's mom and dad?"

They look around, and Vincent realizes that they're still inside. "They didn't come out yet..!" He runs towards it, then stops and turns back to them. "Get Aerthos and Sierra down here! We need to put out this fire! I'll try to find mom and dad!"

They nod, then Vincent runs inside the house, looking around. "Mom! Dad! Are you in here!?"

No response is heard. He frantically searches through the rooms in search of them, until finally reaching Chrissa and Samuel's bedroom, where the two are seen lying on the ground, with burns and other injuries from the flames. He runs over to them, seeing that Samuel's are far more severe.

"Mom..? Dad, are you okay?"

Chrissa gasps a bit and looks up at him. "Vincent... Samuel... didn't make it..."

Vincent's heart drops after hearing this, and he looks at Samuel. "No... That can't be true..."

"You need to get out..."

He clenches his fists and then takes her arm, getting her to her feet and then putting her over his back to escort her out. "I'm not leaving you here, mom."

Chrissa pants and tries to hold on as Vincent walks out of the room as quickly as he can. As they go down the hallway, Chrissa begins to hear a cracking sound, and immediately acts upon it, using what energy she has to jump and kick Vincent away before the ceiling caves in.

The only thing Vincent can hear from her is a loud shriek as he falls to the floor a distance away. He quickly gets back up and looks back, seeing that she is now buried under the burning wood.

"...Dammit... Mom!"

"Vincent! There you are!"

He turns to see Larisa and Lasuno flying to him. Larisa is carrying Amber in her arms as the smaller Latias appears to be unconscious.

"We have to get out of here! The entire house is going to collapse!"

Vincent growls deeply, then looks back at the fallen wood, a tear falling from him. "I'm so sorry..."

He then turns and runs out, the others following as they make it out of the house. The ceiling above the livingroom caves in behind them as they barely escape. Vincent runs down from the patio and drops to his knees in the grass, coughing from the exposure to the smoke.

Christina and the other siblings run over to him and Melissa kneels down to him. "Did you see them in there..?"

Vincent clenches his fists in the grass, crying. "They didn't make it, Melissa..."

Christina gasps, in shock at what she heard. "What!? No! That's not possible!"

Hector looks back at the house, then growls. "What kind of cruel joke is this? I want to know who did this!"

Vincent slowly comes to his feet and turns his gaze up to the sky, where the Moltres is still flying over them. And the others look towards it as well.

- - - - -

"What a pity... He didn't die from that. I always knew you Messangers had nine lives."

Lucas growls deeply. "You inferior creature... You'll pay for that."

The individual sneers and turns back towards him. "Oh really? Come and get me then, if you're so confident."

Lucas pats Salamence, who charges forward, and the individual smirks, casting a black sword in his hands and then swinging it out, creating a powerful sheet of dark energy that flies towards them.

Salamence, unable to react to this, is struck by the energy and is knocked down. The Moltres then fires a Flamethrower and Lucas responds by creating a barrier of energy. Salamence then regains his composure, and flies forward once more. And the individual's eyes glow before he throws his hand out. "_Arteriam_!"

A large burst of compressed energy comes from his hand, hitting Salamence off guard, and sending him off into the sky. And the individual smirks. "Heheh... I love explosive endings."

- - - - -

Vincent growls and his body becomes engulfed in silver energy as he then focuses it, glaring up at the Moltres. The others look at him, becoming curious, and the individual turns down towards him.

"Oh..? Show me what you've got then, young Messanger." He pats the Moltres, and it charges another Fire Blast, before releasing it at full power.

Everyone ducks out of the way, but Vincent stands his ground and then releases a wave of energy to hold the attack back. He then casts a sword in his hand while maintaining the energy, and swings it out to release a blade that knocks the Fire Blast back at the Moltres.

The individual, seeing this, quickly jumps off and cloaks himself in dark energy as he fades away before the bird pokemon is struck with its own attack. It lets out a loud squawk and what seems to be a small green burst comes from its body, before it closes its eyes and shakes its head.

The spell over it is now broken, and the Moltres slowly opens its eyes, looking around and then flying off.

Vincent then falls back down after the large amount of energy he used, and the others quickly go over to him. The threat is now gone, but what happened can never be reversed. Chrissa and Samuel will never come back after this.

- - - - -

~Hours later, at sunset~

"Were you able to locate the bodies?"

The fireman nods and looks back at the remains of the house. "They're pulling them out right now. It's unfortunate that they couldn't be saved though. I feel really bad for these kids..."

Vincent, who has been sitting on the bumper of one of the fire trucks, looks towards what used to be his home and sighs. Christina looks at him, then soon gives him a tight hug, and he closes his eyes, holding back his tears.

"I couldn't save them... I was right there and I couldn't do a thing..."

"Vincent... Don't put this on yourself. You did what you could," Christina says.

He hits his fist against the truck. "But it wasn't enough!"

Melissa turns to him and smacks him. "Would you quit blaming yourself? None of us were able to stop this from happening! We all lost our parents! So quit making this just about you!"

Vincent glares at her, and she goes to sit by him. "We're all suffering from this, Vincent. But do you think mom and dad would want us to mourn over this forever? I'm sorry for hitting you, but you've got to get a hold of yourself..."

Hector comes over and looks at them. "It may not be much, but..." He places his hand around his own necklace, causing the others to glow with a yellow light, and they look at them. "Do you remember when these were given to us?"

Vincent looks back at him in silence, and Christina speaks quietly. "Mom and dad said this was our family bond... That we could never be separated with them."

Hector nods. "They'll always be with us..."

Vincent stares at him for a bit, then gets up and walks off. And Christina looks at him. "Where are you going?"

"I have to find something. I'll be back."

He then goes to the house and ducks under the caution tape surrounding it, walking inside. A nearby fireman looks at him and shouts out, "Hey, you can't go in there!"

But he ignores him and continues, going into the livingroom. He looks around, then goes to a small dresser, kneeling down to it and opening one of the drawers. He then pulls out a box and opens it, seeing the white necklace still completely intact.

"It _is_ still here..." He takes the necklace and sets the box down, then puts it in his pocket, getting up again and looking around. The fireman runs into the house and looks at him.

"Hey, I know you're going through a lot right now, but you can't be in here. It's too dangerous."

Vincent looks at him for a moment, eventually nodding a bit and then walking back outside with him. He goes back over to the others and they look back at him.

"...I won't stay here."

Christina stares at him. "So you're really going through with it then..."

"I have no choice, Christina. I know the one who attacked us has something to do with the task. I have to find them and stop them before it's too late. Otherwise what happened will only be the beginning of something far worse."

Christina sighs and leans back against the truck. "You know, I really hate that you're a Messanger. I wish we could just live a normal life."

Vincent goes over to her and puts his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Christina... When it's all over, we can. And we'll be able to be happy. Just give it some time."

She looks at him for a bit, before finally uttering, "...Okay."

He then hugs her, then looks back at the others. Larisa then flies over to him. He looks at her curiously, noticing someone missing. "Where's Lasuno?"

"He went to take Amber to Altomare... He wants to help, but he doesn't want her to have to get involved. I'm still worried that she may have lost her memory from the fire. She didn't seem to know who any of you were when she woke up..."

Vincent sighs and shakes his head. "I hope she'll get better. But at this point, it may be for better that she doesn't know what's happening. She may try to go with us."

Larisa slowly nods. "I'm sure she'll remember eventually..."

He nods and looks back at Christina and the others. "I'm going to take the Western Forest into Johto. I want to try and get a hold of James in Cianwood. He may be able to help."

Christina nods a bit and stands up. "Alright then... I'll search around to see if I can find anything that might help. If you're going to do this, you're not doing it alone."

Melissa jumps down from the top of the truck and looks at them. "I'll go with Christina. I'm sure Aerthos and Sierra can take us to search from the sky." She looks at the two dragon pokemon nearby, who nod to her.

Hector gets up from the ground and stretches a bit. "Don't leave me out."

Christina looks at him. "But how would you get around? I don't think they can carry all three of us."

Larisa shakes her head. "Lasuno will be coming back soon... He might be able to help. I'll go with Vincent though. He shouldn't wander alone after everything that's happened..."

Vincent turns to her, almost wanting to tell her not to but knowing she's made up her mind. So he goes over to her and strokes her neck. "Just be careful, Larisa... I don't want you putting yourself in a position where you'll be in danger."

She smiles a bit and nuzzles him. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. You just worry about yourself."

He slowly nods and looks back towards the others. "Okay... So we know our course of action. Everyone just try to be safe and don't do anything rash. If you get a hint of danger, don't take any chances. From here, we're all on our own."

Christina pokes him. "I know that. You don't have to be so dramatic."

Vincent sighs. "I just don't want anything to happen to any of you, okay?"

"We'll be fine. Stop worrying so much, you'll give yourself a heart attack."

Melissa goes and hugs him, and he soon returns it. "Let's just make mom and dad proud, alright?"

He looks at her for a bit, then slowly nods and smiles. "Of course... I'll do anything for that." 


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - A Coming Battle

"Lucas, you fool... You almost got yourself killed."

Lucas sighs and gets stands up, looking at Salamence, then at the other creature. "I didn't expect him to display such power... That was beyond what I could've been prepared for."

"Well next time, be a bit more careful. You shouldn't risk your life like that."

He goes over to the Salamence and strokes his neck, and the dragon pokemon closes his eyes, still recovering from the damage he sustained from the attack.

"I'm sorry, my friend. That was a selfish act of me..."

The Salamence looks at him and shakes his head, nuzzling his hand in reassurance. And Lucas smiles a little, sighing in relief.

The creature then speaks up again. "Vincent has left his home. I examined the town last night. The residents have been working on taking down the house. But no one who lived there appears to be in the area."

Lucas looks back and slowly nods. "I expect he left to search for the one who did all this. But if so, he could be walking right into danger. I will keep an eyes on him. I'm still not entirely certain he can do this. Especially after what's happened to the previous Messangers who have taken this task."

"Give him your beliefs. If you lose hope, you will never know if he could have or not."

He nods, then looks back at the Salamence. "I suppose I shall take my leave. It will be very difficult for him. I hope he can pull through."

He gets onto the dragon pokemon's back and pats him, and he takes off into the sky, the creature watching before it leaves as well.

- - - - -

~November 29, 2006~

Larisa looks around, the two having arrived at the port of Olivine, which is located in the western part of Johto. She is growing curious as to Vincent's reasoning for being in such a place.

"Is this the place you were led to?"

He slowly nods. "There is supposedly a ship that leaves this place and goes directly to Cianwood, where James would be meeting us."

The Latias blinks and looks at him. "Wait, that's the person you've been talking to, right?"

"Indeed. Apparently he has done research, and believes he has come to a possible answer for the conclusion of his task. So we will be meeting with him, and then taking the ship out to the deserts of Orre."

Larisa nods, somewhat confused, but she accepts it.

"His brother, Jack, has agreed to purchase two passes onto the S.S. Aqua. One for James and one for me. He said to pick it up at the docks before I go on."

Larisa smiles a bit. "That was nice of him."

He nods, then follows the GPS on his phone to the area of the docks, where a large building is seen in front of them. "This must be the place..."

His phone beeps and the battery icon flashes red. "...Well that's unfortunate. It's nearly dead."

He puts it in his pocket and they go into the building. After finally reaching the front desk, Vincent talks to the receptionist.

"I'm here to pick up a pass that was purchased for me."

"Do you have identification, sir?"

He nods and pulls out a card from his pocket, placing it on the desk, and the receptionist looks it over, then enters it into the computer. She then opens the registry and hands him a pass, along with his ID.

"Here you are, Vincent Verona. Have a great day."

Vincent smiles and takes them, then walks out of the building. He then looks at the pass and blinks. "Wait... This isn't a pass for the S.S. Aqua. It's... an international ferry pass?"

Larisa looks at it curiously. "What does that mean?"

"Well, it's valid for any participating ship. So I suppose that means I could take it anywhere and board... Why would he send me this?"

He shrugs and goes to the dock of the S.S. Aqua, looking up at the ship. "That would be it."

Larisa looks at it and backs up. "Wow... Doesn't it look a bit grand?"

Vincent chuckles a little. "I guess it does. But I've seen the S.S. Anne before it was reported to have sunk. It was much more impressive. A luxuary liner that sailed around Kanto."

"I see..." She nods a bit and looks at him. "So when does this leave?"

Vincent walks to a sign by the dock and looks it over. "It should be leaving withinin the next hour. But they stop accepting guests half an hour before it departs. So we should probably go on now."

Larisa looks back at the ship. "Okay..."

They then go to the attendant of the ship and Vincent shows him the card. He then scans it and soon presses a button, the rail lifting to allow them passage. "Enjoy your trip sir."

He nods and the two go onto the bridge. Shortly, they are escorted onto the ship and given a key card with a room number on it.

"Let's see... Floor 2, room 28." They wander down the halls until they find their room, and Vincent slides the card in the door before going in. The room is fairly small with a fancy dark carpet, and has a single bed sitting across from a desk with a chair. There is a small refrigerator placed at the edge of the desk, and a lamp is at the other side.

Vincent goes in and sits in the chair, resting after having been walking for hours. And Larisa flies to the bed to lay down, letting out a purr.

"It's so soft and comfy!"

He smiles and shakes his head. "Silly Larisa..." He pulls out his phone and sets it on the desk, then puts his bag down and takes out the charging cord, plugging the phone in. He sends James a message to tell him he's on the ship, then sits back in the chair.

After several moments of relaxing and talking to James, Vincent gets up again and looks at Larisa. "I'm going to explore the ship. Do you want to come?"

The Latias pouts and looks back at him. "Does that mean I have to get off?"

He chuckles a bit and folds his arms. "Well unless you intend on carrying the bed with you, then yes. But if you want to stay in here alone, I suppose you could."

She sticks her tongue out and hovers up. "You're such a joykill."

Vincent shakes his head and walks out. "We'll be back here later, then you can lay there as long as you like."

"Wait, does that mean you're not?"

"I've grown to become acustomed to sleeping outside a lot of the time. I find it to be somewhat comforting to sleep under the stars."

Larisa nods slowly. "Makes sense..."

Vincent smiles and goes down the hall to the upper deck of the ship, looking over the railing at the sea.

"...The ocean connects the world and all its landmasses. Continents, regions, even places yet to be discovered... They're all bound by the sea, and what the currents bring in are never the same. You never know what you might find, carried in by the world's water..."

Larisa blinks and looks at him. "I've never heard you speak like that... Where'd you get that?"

He chuckles a bit. "Just something that came to me."

The Latias smiles a bit and looks out at the ocean. Vincent then turns back to Olivine, which they had left a few minutes ago. As they come to leave the bay, he looks at Larisa.

"I'm glad you came with me. I'm glad all of you are helping me."

She looks back at him and smiles, hugging him. "We're family, Vincent. We'd never leave you to do something like this alone. Besides..."

She holds up her stone necklace. "As long as we have these, we're never truly apart."

He smiles and nods. "Of course..." He looks at his stone, remembering the ones who gave it to him... the memory of his parents lingering in his mind. He then looks back at the ocean, in thought.

- - - - -

"Hey, bonehead. Wake up. I don't wanna hear you whine when you miss the ship tomorrow, so you gotta be up earlier."

James mumbles lightly as he's shaken from his sleep by Jack. "Just a little longer, mum..."

Jack smacks him and he yelps, rolling off his bed and onto the floor. "Mum ain't here, remember?"

He groans and stares up at him. "She makes a better alarm clock than you..." He tries to kick at his legs and Jack jumps over his foot.

"Come on, James. Your breakfast is gonna get cold." Jack walks out of the room and James rubs his eyes, still groggly.

"Breakfast does sound good..." He gets up and stretches, going to the dresser and pulling out a set of clothes.

After a few minutes, James walks out into the livingroom and looks at Jack, who is on the couch, eating. He sits down and takes a plate off the coffee table, having three sausage links, two strips of bacon and two fried eggs. A cup of pineapple juice sits on the table by where the plate was.

"You don't normally make a breakfast like this. What's new?"

Jack swallows his food and takes a drink from his cup. "News flash, you're going out to do your task and I might not see you again. I want to at least do something nice for you."

James looks at him. "Well you're as cheerful as ever."

He puts his plate on the table and sighs, sitting back. "It's been a long night, James... Thinking about everything and knowing the inevitable. I may not have been the nicest person to you since dad died and mom left... but you're still my brother. And you always will be."

James smiles a bit and gives a light punch to his arm. "Hey. Just like Vincent, even when I finish my task, I'm gonna find a way back."

"You'd better. Otherwise I'll have to hunt down this Spiritual Council of yours and drag you back here by your hair, dead or not."

James smirks. "At any rate, I'll be able to screw up more of your projects. So that's always a plus."

Jack eyes him and shakes his head, pushing his head. "Don't get cocky. Remember what you're supposed to do now. I sent you an email with information on the two sides that might help you. Check your phone when you get the chance."

James nods, then starts eating.

- - - - -

"Are those the Whirl Islands?"

Vincent looks out at the four islands off in the distance as the ship passes, then looks at his phone, pinpointing their location and nodding. "They seem to be... They're quite a bit smaller than I had imagined though."

Larisa stares at them for a while, taking in the sight of the mountainous islands surrounded by several whirlpools. The tides and stormclouds that cover the islands would appear to make it dangerous for anyone to approach them. Still, she wonders what kind of secrets they could possibly hold.

As the ship continues to sail, the islands eventually disappear behind them and the sea around them appears empty once again.

Vincent puts his phone away and looks at Larisa. "We should be at Cianwood by tomorrow. James has been telling me of things he learned about his task. It seems there are two countries who have been conflicting for a few years. Apparently Orre was caught right in the middle of it, and is now the battleground for an upcoming battle."

Larisa blinks. "But... The battle is between two countries. I thought you said it was world calamities you're meant to act upon. Countries and regions fight all the time, there's really no stopping all of them..."

After hearing this, Vincent realizes her point and looks down in thought. "That is true... How could this conflict be different from any other? Now that I think of it, it doesn't really make any sense..."

He thinks about it for a while, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone to call James.

After several rings, he finally answers in a rushed voice. "Hey, Vincent. Sorry for the wait, I was getting dinner and didn't hear my phone right away."

"It's fine, James. Hey, can you check something?"

"Well, sure I guess. What is it? You normally don't make calls."

Vincent looks at Larisa, who is listening to him. "Larisa brought up a very good point that made me begin to think about your task."

James walks into the kitchen to continue preparing his hamburger and places his phone on the counter with the speaker on. "Oh? What was it?"

"What, exactly, is the intent of the two armies in this war? If you were sent on this task to stop them, the outcome of their fighting must have an impact on the world."

"That's... true. I never really thought about that."

"James, you're a Messanger. You really should consider things like that."

James opens the refrigerator, putting away the various condiments he was using, and yelling across the kitchen to his phone. "Hey, don't give me that, smart one! You had to have your Latias friend bring it to your mind before you even thought of it, so I don't even wanna hear it!"

Vincent shakes his head leans back against the railing of the ship. "Well, we're both gonna hear it if we don't look into it. We're short on time, so you might want to get on that." He suddenly stops talking and listens. "...Is that popping I hear?"

"Crap!" James quickly closes the refrigerator and runs over to the stove, turning it off and pulling his nearly burnt fries out of the oil. He puts them on the plate by his hamburger and blows out some smoke from the oil. "Ahh, look what you made me do!"

"Did you burn something again?"

James grunts and cracks the window open to let the kitchen air out, then gets a bottle of ketchup. "Shuddap. This requires great finesse..."

"James? I've fried potatoes, it really isn't that hard."

"Shut it or I'll pour hot oil on you when you get here!" James puts ketchup on his plate and then takes it into the livingroom, having grown annoyed and somewhat embarrassed at his cooking mess up.

And Vincent chuckles a bit. "Well anyways... You should look into it today. We'll be arriving at the port tomorrow morning."

"I shall spend the rest of the day tearing apart the internet to find their deepest secrets... while downloading music."

Vincent rolls his eyes. "You do that. Tell me if you find anything."

"You'll be the first to know. And... probably the last." James snickers and takes a bite out of his hamburger. "I'll talk to you later, Vincent."

"Good luck, James." He then hangs up and looks at the time on his phone. 7:28 PM. "...We should probably go for dinner too."

Larisa nods and looks around, seeing that the deck is now practically empty. "Looks like everyone else has."

Vincent puts his phone away and looks towards the door to the entry hall. "Right... Let's go."

They go back inside and towards the dining area, where they have dinner and then return to their room for the night. The ship would be arriving shortly after dawn, so they decide to sleep early. They need to be ready for the day to come, when they would meet James and prepare for the approaching task...

- - - - -

"Soon... Soon, my lord. You shall have what you seek. Then we shall take our true prize..."

The shadowy individual smirks and stands up, overlooking the barren desert from a high cliff, as the winds blow and dust picks up into the air, the area of a battle soon to come... 


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - Resolution

Early in the morning, Jack has already woken up and is getting prepared to go. He soon walks out of his room and into James', down the hall, seeing him still deep asleep. He walks over to his dresser and picks up his phone, seeing that the alarm has already long since gone off.

He shakes his head and puts it down, looking back at James. "You gotta get a better alarm, boy..."

He walks out of the room and pulls a device from the hall closet, which has a cord attached to it and a small rod at the end of it. On the device, there is a dial and a red button below it.

He then goes back into the room and over to James, putting the rod in his hand and then adjusting the dial. He looks at James, then presses the button, sending a jolt into his hand and through his body. This causes him to yelp and flip over, rolling off his bed and onto the floor.

When James finally regains his composure, he shakes his head and looks up at his older brother. "What the heck, man!? Not cool!"

Jack smirks and picks up the cord, wrapping it around the device. "I warned you last night that if you weren't up when I came to check on you, you'd get a surprise awakening."

James grunts and staggers up, sitting on his bed. "I was up late, researching! Give me a break."

Jack scoffs and walks out of the room. "Get ready, James. You've got a big day ahead of you. And I'm sure your friend, Vincent, won't want you to miss the boat.

James groans and rubs his eyes, sitting on his bed for a minute before finally getting up and looking at his phone. The time shows 5:48 AM. He sighs and unplugs it, putting it in his pocket. "Just another couple hours of sleep... I'm not ready for this."

After several moments, James comes out of the room, carrying a large backpack which has been stuffed with things for the trip. He drops it down by the coffee table and falls onto the couch, laying back and closing his eyes.

Jack looks at him from the kitchen and chuckles lightly. "You look a little tired, there. When did you finally pass out?"

"Three..." James mutters, almost seeming about to die in his spot.

"Three. That was smart. Can't do much on two and a half hours of sleep, brother. What were you even researching?"

"Historical facts about..." He yawns, mid-sentence. "...the two countries and what they're capable of... I needed to learn the reason for stopping the battle, and what could come, should it go on."

"And did you find anything?"

James shakes his head. "Absolutely nothing. It almost seems pointless to interfere, unless I'm just asking for an early death. But the Council seems adamant about stopping it. So there must be some reason I'm not seeing."

Jack turns down the temperature on the stove and shifts the bacon in the pan around. "Seems like a load of crap to me. Maybe your 'Council' overlooked something and this whole thing is merely a mistake."

James opens his eyes to look back at him. "Yeah, that's very likely. A group that serves Arceus, and has been around for two thousand years, overlooked something as crucial as this."

Jack shrugs. "Hey, I'm just saying. Maybe something went wrong, somewhere. Did you even bother asking the reasoning for sending you in the first place?"

James sighs and lays his head back. "No..."

Jack eyes him for a moment, then goes back to making the food. They are silent for a while, until he is finished preparing breakfast. He then sets two plates up and brings them into the livingroom, sitting down by James and putting his plate on the table.

"Eat up. We've got an hour until the ship arrives."

James looks at it and slowly nods, picking it up and beginning to eat. He soon sets the plate down and looks at the clock on the computer's screensaver. A bouncing, green, digital clock shows 6:12 AM.

"...Hey, Jack?"

Jack looks at him.

"What if they were wrong... about the task? And I'm just doing this for nothing..."

"I was half kidding about that."

James shakes his head. "No, I'm serious. What if they were?"

Jack stares at him for a moment, the somewhat worried expression concerning him. "...Then I don't know. But don't worry about that, James. What's important is that you try your hardest. And don't let anything get in your way of doing what you must. I believe in you, man. So you believe in yourself."

James slowly nods and looks back at the computer for a few seconds, before taking his plate and finishing his food.

After resting for a short while and making final preparations, James looks back at the time. It is nearly 7, and Jack has been in the garage, checking up on his craft and making sure it is running as expected. He makes some minor prepares and then checks his phone on the shelf.

He goes to the sink to wash his hands, then walks into the house. "Hey, James! It's time to go!"

James looks down the hall and gets up. "I'll be right there!"

He grabs his phone off the table and picks up his backpack, before going into the garage, where Jack seen drinking from a bottle of water. The younger brother walks over to the craft and puts his bag in the compartment in the back.

Jack then goes and sits in the seat, James getting on behind him and setting his feet up on the mounts. He then starts the engine and the two take off to the port.

- - - - -

"Hey, Vincent... Look at the sunrise."

Vincent walks out onto the deck of the ship, where Larisa is hovering by the rail and staring out at the sea. The sky is starting to light up as the sun is seen just over the horizon, bringing with it the light of dawn that reflects off the water.

He leans over the rail and gazes out at it, smiling a bit. "I never really got to see this when we were at home... Even when we were at the port, it just didn't look the same. Not like this..."

Larisa makes a soft purr and nods slowly. "...I wonder how everyone's doing... How Lasuno's doing..."

He looks back at the Latias, then puts his arm around her, giving her a hug. "I'm sure they're fine... They can take care of themselves."

She looks down, leaning into the hug. "I know... But I can't help but worry."

Vincent slowly nods and looks out again. "Yeah... I wonder when we'll see them again? I hope soon..."

The two stare out for several moments in silence, until a male's voice on the loudspeaker catches their attention.

" _Now approaching Cianwood Island. We will be docking in approximately ten minutes. There will be a thirty minute interval before the ship sets sail to Gateon Port. Returning passengers are advised to board at least five minutes beforehand to confirm their partonage. Thank you for sailing with us on the great S.S. Aqua._"

Vincent looks back at the entry hall, then at Larisa. "We'll be seeing James there. Are you ready?"

She nods. "Of course."

He smiles, then turns to go to the cabins, checking his phone and seeing that he has one message.

"Hey, Vincent! I'm on my way to the port. Meet us at the end of the dock. You should be able to pick us out from the other people by the craf"

The message cuts off at the end, and Vincent blinks. "Strange..." He shrugs and takes it off the charger, then the two leave the room and go towards the exit, where many of the passengers are gathered to leave.

As the ship arrives at the dock, the voice on the loudspeaker is heard again. " _Now arriving at Cianwood Island. Watch your step when getting off the ship. And we hope you enjoyed your voyage._"

Vincent and Larisa watch the other passengers get off, before going behind them and leaving the ship. As they get down to the dock, Vincent gives the attendant his keycard and then walks down the dock to look for James.

After several minutes of searching through the crowd, the two see am arm waving over everyone, as someone shouts out Vincent's name. They soon realize it to be James, and go over to him. Jack is sitting on a bench near a light pole, where the craft is parked several yards away to prevent any damage to anything when it's active.

"Took you long enough to see me. I told you, look for the craft."

Vincent shakes his head. "Yeah, that didn't stick out so much. By the way, your message cut off."

James blinks and pulls out his phone, looking over his messages. "Huh... That's the first time I went past the limit."

"Limit?"

"Yeah, there's a 140 character limit for text messages. It's kind of a network issue, but Jack still needs to put some kind of block to keep it from going past it."

Vincent nods slowly. "I see..."

"Oh! Speaking of which, Jack? About that chip."

Jack gets up and goes over to them. "I didn't forget. Let me see your phone really quick, Vincent."

Vincent looks at him curiously, then hands him his phone. He then turns it off and takes off the back cover. After finding a certain spot in it, he places a small chip inside it and closes it again, turning it back on and giving it back.

Vincent watches as it boots up, then notices the clear difference where the service provider has been wiped.

"...What did you do?"

"I realize that you won't be able to pay for your service any longer, due to the current circumstances... That chip I put in wipes your phone's address out of the system and hacks the server. That way, you'll keep your phone on without paying for it."

Vincent stares at him and he folds his arms. "...It's kind of illegal. Which is why you probably shouldn't contact the providers or any authorities with it... It might get you in trouble."

He puts the phone back in his pocket and nods. "Very well..."

"I'm sorry about what happened with your parents. No one should have to experience such a thing."

Vincent sighs and shake shis head. "Nothing can be done about it now... The only thing we can do is move on and try to make the best of things."

James puts his hand on Vincent's shoulder. "Don't worry, my friend. I'll be here until the end."

Vincent smiles a bit. "And so will I..."

James nods, then looks at the ship. "So, fifteen minutes."

Vincent looks at the clock over the station. "...Technically ten. We have to get on five minutes before, for confirmation."

"Right... So, ten minutes."

Larisa looks between them. "Not much to go on..."

Jack shrugs a bit. "We could get something for breakfast. You can take it on the ship."

James looks at him and nods. "Yeah, we could. How about it?"

Vincent nods as well. "We should have time."

James smiles and pats him on the shoulder, then they go to the station.

- - - - -

"I found the two. Just as expected, they would be meeting at his home."

"Good... Follow them onto the ship. I don't like this one bit."

"Very well, my lady." The man gets up and walks off.

- - - - -

"Hurry, we've got one minute left!"

"Hey, James!"

James turns back towards Jack, who is standing by the craft.

"Blow them away. Make me proud and come back home safe."

He nods. "Thanks, bro. Don't worry, I'll come back."

Jack smirks. "You'd better. Remember our little deal."

A voice over the loudspeaker speaks, making an announcement. " _We are now accepting the last passengers onto the S.S. Aqua. Please board immediately to make your reservation._"

Larisa looks at the ship. "We have to go now."

James looks at her and nods. "Right... I'll see you later, Jack!"

Jack waves to him. "Good luck."

The three then run to the ship and Vincent and James show the attendant their cards. He scans them and looks at the two. "Are you boarding together?"

James nods, and he takes a keycard, giving it to him. "Enjoy your trip."

He nods again and they go onto the bridge to the ship. James looks back at Jack, who nods to him, and he smiles and waves to him, before getting on.

And following behind them, another man gets on, keeping his eyes on them.

"So, what room this time?"

James looks at Vincent, then at the keycard. "Oh! Right. Uhh, floor 1, room 36. Huh, we must've gotten on late."

Vincent looks around. "Seems so. Everyone must've already gotten settled. We probably should too. We'll be at Gateon Port by noon, tomorrow."

"Right then." James nods, and the three go to their room. As they enter, this one appears larger than Vincent's room during the last trip. There are two beds, one on opposite sides of the room, and between them is a long desk with two chairs, and a lamp set in the center of it. And under the desk, where the lamp is positioned, there is a small refrigerator.

James walks in and puts his bag on the desk, then sits on one of the beds. "Haven't seen a two person room on this ship. I suppose it's not that much different than one, though."

Vincent nods and walks in, just before Larisa darts past him and onto the other bed.

"It's just as comfy as the other one!"

James looks at her and chuckles. "Enjoying yourself, there?"

Vincent smiles and sits down by her, putting his bag on the floor by the bed and then stroking her neck. "I think she's grown in love with this ship."

Larisa makes a small purr before saying, "Don't tell Lasuno..."

Vincent blinks at that, then he and James both break into laughter. James reaches over and pats her. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with us."

The three stay in the room for a while, occasionally talking between each other about recent events, then eventually bringing up the important subject of James' task.

"...So what have you learned of the two sides?"

James shakes his head and reaches into his bag, pulling out his phone. "Only a few things that might explain why we'd want them not to fight. But it's not adequate enough information to really help us stop them."

He pulls up a document, then hands his phone to Vincent, who looks it over.

"Historical documents about the countries Chora and Nero. Two countries that have worshipped separate ancient entities of the land and sea... So they're fighting because of Groudon and Kyogre?"

James sits back against the wall. "Keep reading, it gets better."

Vincent reads through the text, seeing the occasional images representing different groups within the countries and descriptions on what their armed forces are trained in.

"Each side is specially trained for combat using power from the two entities... But the thing stopping them from using this power on the world is each other."

James nods. "Whoever won this battle would be able to expand their armies further, and they would be capable of having an impact on the balance of nature."

Vincent shakes his head. "But isn't that what Team Magma and Team Aqua tried a few years ago and failed to do? How do we know this isn't the same futile attempt by just some other group of people?"

"Because these people are infused with this power, themselves. Apparently they're all descendants of ancient worshippers who lived alongside Groudon and Kyogre. If either of them were to gain full control, they could either drown the world or eliminate all sources of water. Regardless of the outcome, many people would die from it. And I wouldn't be willing to bet these people would survive much longer after that either. They're humans too, whether they have powers or not."

Vincent hands the phone back to James. "So we'd need to bring them to their senses and get them to see what would really happen."

James sighs and puts his phone away. "Easier said than done."

Larisa looks between the two and shifts a bit, having grown slightly uncomfortable from the awkward silence.

Then suddenly, there is a knock at the door, and the three turn to look, growing curious. Vincent gets up and walks towards it. "Who could this be..?"

James shrugs. "Room service, maybe."

"We had no requests. Unless you decided to order lunch. Which wouldn't surprise me."

James rolls his eyes and Vincent opens the door cautiously, looking out. Standing behind it, there is a man of average height wearing a grey cloak with the hood down. It would appear there is something around his neck, but whatever it is, it is tucked into his cloak so as not to be seen.

James sits up and looks at the man somewhat suspiciously. "Why does he look so familiar..."

The man looks at James, then back at Vincent, before speaking in a low tone. "I need to speak to you, Vincent... The Council sent me to contact you."

Vincent blinks in surprise and takes a step back. "The Spiritual Council? What would they need to send someone for?"

The man looks around, then walks into the room, pushing Vincent out of the way and then closing the door, looking back at him. "There's been a mistake. They won't give me any specific details, due to the classification of your tasks. But I'm asked to keep an eye on you two for the time being. So I'm going with you."

James sits back against the wall, eyeing the man. "If you'd ask me, I'd say the Council's gone goofy as of late. Nothing seems right anymore."

The man folds his arms and sighs. "There's been a lot of stress lately since you two took on your tasks. People simply can't handle it anymore. Even the Elder's will is starting to falter."

Vincent looks down, in thought. "Strange... I wonder what's going on there?" He then looks back at the man, beginning to recognize him. "You're... Lou, right? Lou Ethelstan."

He nods slowly. "Yes... I'm sure you remember, I only joined recently."

Vincent nods, then goes to sit down on his bed. "I do. If you don't mind, I need to ask a few things about what's happened recently."

Lou looks at him, then walks over to the desk and pulls out a chair to sit down. "Of course. I've nothing but time."

Vincent nods, and they proceed to discussing the current events of the Council to learn about everything that has gone on since Vincent came here. Their talk goes on until night, when they finally decide to go to sleep, having prepared for the following day, when they would finally arrive at Gateon Port... 


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - In The Deserts Of Orre

As Vincent is coming to his consciousness, he is roused by a voice over the loudspeaker. Though he is unable to distinguish what it says at first, until he is shaken awake by someone. He slowly opens his eyes, partially disoriented as he hears a male voice call his name.

"Vincent, wake up already! We're gonna miss the port!"

He blinks, staring at the figure curiously, until he realizes it to be James, and jumps up. "The port? Oh right, Gateon. Umm..."

The voice over the loudspeaker chimes again. "I repeat, we will be arriving at Gateon port in ten minutes. There will be a one hour layover before we set sail to Tangelo Island. Please make any preparations you need while we are docked. For those of you leaving, we hope you enjoy the region of Orre."

James goes to his bed and picks up his bag next to it. "I'm sure you don't want to wind up in the Orange Islands, now hurry."

Vincent grunts and rubs his eyes, looking over at Larisa. "...I wouldn't mind visiting Shamouti someday." He puts his hand on the Latias, stroking her neck lightly, getting a small purr in response. He smiles, and speaks softly.

"Larisa? Are you awake?"

She whines a little and shifts. "Not now Lasuno... Gimme more time..."

Vincent blinks, then chuckles a bit and continues stroking her neck. "Larisa, it's me."

After a bit, she opens her eyes partially. "Vincent..?"

He nods. "Yes, Vincent. Did you forget where we were already?"

She lightly huffs. "Of course not. We're... on a ship. Right?"

"No, we're in Slateport. I had to carry you to the hotel when we docked."

Larisa jumps up and looks around. "Where!?"

James looks at her and scoffs. "Not quite. We're nearing Gateon Port. We'll have to get off in a few minutes."

She sighs and closes her eyes. "Phew... I thought I overslept."

Vincent smiles and pats her head. "Not so much. But we need to hurry."

She looks at him, then nudges his shoulder. "Meanie..."

He blinks, then quietly chuckles and gets up, hugging her. "I'm sorry."

She pouts, but then makes a small coo in response, just before a knock is heard at the door. They all look, and Vincent calls out. "Come in."

As it opens, Lou is seen standing outside, carrying a small shoulder bag, and he walks in. "Are you ready to go?"

Vincent nods and gathers up his bag and other items. "Just about. Sorry to keep you waiting."

He nods and looks at James, who nods to him in assurance. "We'll be right out."

"Very well. I'll be at the bridge." He looks back at Vincent for a moment, then walks out and down the hall. After a minute, the three are ready and leave the room, going to the bridge to meet with him. When they arrive, they turn in their cards and get off the ship."

As they all get to the dock, James looks around. The port is rather large, appearing to have several commercial buildings including shops, resturants and other convenient places. And beyond these areas, where the paved plaza ends, is a wide expanse of barren desert, going as far as they can see.

"...They weren't joking when they said it was nothing but dirt. How does anyone survive that?"

Lou goes to a nearby stand and takes a pamphlet, reading through it. "They don't. There are various tour vehicles they take around the region. And those rich enough afford their own."

James looks at him, then takes a drink from his water bottle. "Huh. Wonder when the next bus comes then?"

Vincent looks around the area, taking a few steps before resting his hand on a rail. He starts to ponder how they'll get around, since taking a tour bus isn't exactly the quickest and safest way to get where they'd need to be. He leans back against the rail, in thought, before he suddenly gets a surge through his head and winces. The others look at him, noticing him cringing, and James runs over.

"Hey! Vincent, are you okay?"

His eyes shut tightly, he takes little notice to James' call, as a vision runs through his mind...

Two men in pale blue cloaks walk along the dock, having departed from a large ship with a rather peculiar label on the side, inscribed in a different language. They speak to the occasional individuals they pass by, gathering different information about the area, until they come to an outside food stand. The two speak to the server for a few moments before one of them notices someone watching them from behind a distant signpost.

He nudges his partner and points at the man draped in red clothing, who quickly ducks back out of sight, and the two look at each other. They nod and then run off towards the ship, jumping the rail that Vincent is leaning against as the food server calls out to them, before the vision cuts out.

Vincent jumps away from the rail and yelps, panting as he looks back towards it.

James, who had ducked back to get out of his way, stares at him with concern. "...Vincent? What happened?"

Vincent looks back at James for a moment, before speaking again. "They're already here..."

James blinks and shakes his head. "Are you talking about Chora and Nero...?"

He nods. "There was a ship from Nero here earlier. Two people who got off it were wandering this place to get information when they noticed a man who looked to be of Chora descent spying on them. We may not have much time..."

James looks towards Lou, who is staring at them curiously. "How did you find this out?"

James shakes his head. "One of the abilities Vincent has is the Dimensional Scream... He can recall visions of the past and the future, related to certain things he touches."

Lou looks at Vincent for a moment, registering what James said, before speaking again. "The past _and_ the future? How can you tell when it is?"

Vincent blinks at the question and James speaks up. "He can't. It just happens-" As he comes to realization of this, he looks back at Vincent. "...at random."

Vincent looks in thought. "...It could've been either one. I never really do know."

Lou nods slowly. "Then we might have time. If it was the future, we can still prepare."

James shakes his head again and takes a step forward. "But if it was the past, we may already be too late. We can't take the risk and just cruise on through. This is serious. We need to do what we can to make sure we make it. We can't waste time here."

Vincent nods and looks at Larisa, who is listening to them and growing concerned now.

"Come on then. Let's find a way to get through the desert first. We can't do anything without transportation."

James looks around for a bit, before speaking in a quieter voice. "I have an idea... Come on."

He runs off and the others follow him, Vincent becoming curious, yet somewhat suspicious at what he's thinking of doing."

As the four run through the port, they are glanced at by several people, taking notice of Larisa and talking amongst themselves about the Latias' impossible sighting in Orre. She looks around uncomfortably, then at Vincent. "Everyone's staring..."

Vincent looks around and sighs. "You're considered a legendary pokemon, Larisa... It'll happen a lot. You remember when people in Pallet first saw you."

The Latias shakes her head. "I wish I didn't... So many little kids were touching me..."

Vincent can't help but smile a bit at the thought, finding it somewhat funny. But his mind is pulled back to reality as James points ahead.

"There. That's where we're going."

Vincent looks ahead curiously. "A... motor vehicle lot? But how would you get one of these"

James rolls his eyes and stops outside the small building in the middle of a lot full of different vehicles. "I'm linked to Jack's bank account, I get a share of money. That's how."

"You're hardly even old enough to drive."

"But he's old enough." James points to Lou, who blinks and looks at him.

"Are you serious? I can't drive."

Vincent shakes his head. "He doesn't have a license either..."

James pulls his phone out and snaps a picture of Lou, then runs through different menus on it before giving it to Vincent. "You said?"

He looks at the phone, seeing Lou in the driving system, then stares at James.

"My brother's a hacker and a machine expert. You didn't think he could make something like this?"

Vincent folds his arms. "He's gonna wind up in jail eventually. Watch."

James scoffs and takes a small device out of his bag, then taps a few things on his phone and the device prints out a card, which he gives to Lou. "If they ever catch him. He's completely undetectable."

Lou takes the card and stares at him. "You're not really going through with this are you?"

"Look, Jack taught me how to drive his craft, I just never got validated. But he designed it just like a motorcycle. You just need to get one for me and I'll take it from there."

Lou shakes his head. "You people and your technology... In my time, that stuff didn't exist."

"You gonna give me a hard time? I'm just asking a little favor."

"Fine, fine! I'll do it." He walks to the building, and James looks at Vincent and shrugs. They both then follow him inside.

A middle aged man of medium height is walking around inside, talking to two people, before he sees the four enter and waves in greeting. He nods to the other two individuals and then walks over. "Hi, what can I do for you fellows, and your... rather interesting pokemon here?"

Larisa huffs and looks away, and Vincent pats her. James looks at her, then back at the man. "I'm getting my friend a present here. We're looking for a bike, preferrably with a trailer if possible."

The man nods and walks outside with them. "I believe we have a few left. They're quite popular among families who want to travel."

James nods and they walk over to the area where the motorcycles are parked. As they look over them, James asks, "Which is the cheapest here?"

The man walks over to a red one and puts his hand on the handlebar. "This one here is two thousand dollars, and it runs quite well out in that old desert. But I wouldn't recommend having a lot of people in the trailer. It would slow you down a lot."

James nods and looks it over for a moment, then back at Lou, who is standing somewhat awkwardly about the situation. He then looks back at the man. "We'll take it."

The man smiles and nods, before taking them back to the building and over to the main desk. "Can I see your license, sir?"

Lou blinks, and James nudges him, before he quickly puts the card on the desk. James then takes out another card and gives it to him, and he scans the two. After a moment, he gives both cards back and goes a cabinet, pulling out a keychain and giving it to Lou. "I hope you enjoy your new motorcycle, Mr. Ethelstan."

Lou shifts a bit and nods, before walking out with the others, and James pats his shoulder. "Was that so hard?"

Lou sighs and gives him the key. "Are we done here? We're wasting time, staying."

Vincent nods. "We should go now."

"Right. Let's go." James runs to the motorcycle and looks back at the building, seeing the man now preoccupied with the two customers he was talking to before. He then nods to the others and they climb into the trailer, and he gets on the seat in the front. After adjusting things, be puts the key in and starts it up, just in time to see the man look outside at them.

"Uhh... Okay, away we go!" He drives off and the man runs out of the building, shouting to them with words they can't hear as they leave the lot.

James looks at the mirror as he goes. "...Is he following us?"

Vincent looks back, then shakes his head, and James sighs.

"I think I painted a target on this thing. Let's get out of here before he sends someone after us."

Vincent slowly nods and sits back against the rail of the trailer. They soon leave the port and venture into the open desert, going towards the north.

- - - - -

"My leige, the army of Chora has been sighted near Phenac. What are your orders of action?"

"They are approaching with haste. Had their scout not come upon us, we would have more time to prepare. Send the first regiment to intercept them. We must stall them at least another day."

"Very well, my leige. I take my leave..."

- - - - -

"Hey... James? We should stop here."

James looks back at Vincent, who is looking around the area with concern. After a moment, he pulls over to a large boulder and stops, shuting off the motorcycle. He gets off and stretches, looking around.

Larisa is asleep in the trailer, laying on a blanket and covered with another. And Lou is leaned against his bag with his cloak over himself, asleep as well. Vincent looks at his phone, see where they are, then puts it in his pocket and gets out of the trailer. "We'll be able to reach Agate Village by noon if we wake up and go straight off."

James nods and walks around for a bit, before pausing and turning towards the east. "Hey look... There's a river over there."

Vincent looks in the direction and blinks. "Yeah, there is... If it's what I think it is, we could actually follow that to Agate."

The two run over to it and stop at a ledge, overlooking the huge river that flows off to the south. It's hard to tell just how wide it is in the darkness of the night, but it's easy to tell this is the river that divides the western section of Orre from the rest of the region.

Vincent kneels down and puts his hand in the water, then jerks it out. And James looks at him with a smirk. "Cold?"

"Just a little... I suppose it's to be expected." He gets up and shivers a little. "Definitely a desert. Hot in the day and cold at night..."

James nods and walks back towards the motorcycle, and Vincent follows. As they get back, James pulls out a blanket from his bag and puts it over himself. He looks back at Vincent, who sits against the boulder. "Hey... Do you have another blanket. It's only going to get colder as it gets later."

Vincent shakes his head. "I'll be okay."

James stares at him, then pulls another blanket from his bag. "Come on, man. Don't be an idiot."

Vincent looks at him as he throws the blanket to him, and he catches it. "...Thanks."

James nods and goes to the boulder with his bag, setting it down and then laying down, using it as a pillow.

"You know, you're really nice for letting her use both of your blankets."

Vincent smiles a bit and covers himself, laying back against the boulder. "She's helped me through a lot. And she didn't even have to... She should have better than this."

James looks over to him for a bit. "...So should you. You didn't deserve what happened to you and your family."

He sighs and shakes his head. "What's happened has happened. It can't be changed, so you have to learn to accept it... It'll be okay though. We're strong..."

James turns back to look up at the sky. "I guess... That reminds me though. You chose the Time Crossing ability, if I remember right. Why? You never use it."

Vincent looks at the stars in thought. "...I feel I will need to at some point. I don't know, but I just get the strong feeling that it will come in use."

James nods slowly. "And the Dragon Taming? What's that about? Your family has a tradition of just that. Seems kind of redundant that you chose that as an ability, especially since it only works once."

Vincent shrugs and chuckles slightly. "I really don't know... I couldn't think of anything else. You took the Speedster ability I wanted."

James blinks and looks back at him. "What are you on about? You're one of the fastest moving people in the Council. I was just kidding when I called you slow before. Frankly, I'd need the Speedster just to keep up with you..."

Vincent sighs and shakes his head. "I guess. But it could've helped some."

James rolls his eyes and shifts a bit on the ground.

After a moment of silence, Vincent speaks again. "I've always wondered... where your brother gets the space to build all the things he does."

James smiles a bit. "There's a solitary island a ways from Cianwood our dad owned. It has a facility run by a computer called ATHER, that helped him with his projects. When he died, he passed the facility to Jack, since he took such an interest in what he did."

Vincent nods slowly. "I see... Why is it called ATHER?"

"Uhh... Active Terminal for Human Emulation and Realism, I think. It's artificial intelligence. Jack's still improving it, but it's quite an impressive piece of work. In fact an operating system based on it is what runs your phone."

Vincent looks at him curiously. "So Jack not only made the phone, but also designed its interface?"

James nods. "Yep. He could technically hack it from the facility if he really wanted to. But I doubt he ever would. No reason."

"...That's nice to know." Vincent rolls to his side and closes his eyes. "We should get some sleep... It'll be a long day tomorrow."

James looks at him, then stretches his arms and closes his own eyes. "Yeah... Goodnight, Vincent."

"Goodnight, James."

- - - - -

"You two have traveled quite a ways..."

The shadowy individual walks over to Vincent and James, looking down at them for a moment. "I've grown quite tired of living in this fake shell... It's time for a change."

He kneels down over James and puts his hand on his forehead, closing his eyes as it radiates black energy. James shifts uncomfortably in response, but doesn't wake up. And the individual opens his eyes again, standing up again. "The time will soon come for me to reclaim my body... You've controlled it for long enough... James."

He turns and walks off, a gust of wind blowing his black hood back, revealing his dark brown hair in a style very similar to that of James'. And immediately, he fades into the darkness, leaving the party alone. 


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 - Peace To Chaos

"Are you certain they came here?"

"I am. The ship was routed to this region and they were still on it when it arrived."

"Then we should hurry... I expect he will be here as well."

- - - - -

After having driven two days through the Orre region, stopping at Agate Village for supplies and food, Vincent and the other three come to the canyon town of Pyrite for a break.

Entering the town, the four come to realize it to be a place home to many rogues, due to its low maintenance and apparent vandalism on several buildings. As they wander through the town, Larisa gets an uncomfortable feeling, remaining close to Vincent.

The Latias looks around cautiously. "You know... I don't like this place one bit."

Vincent strokes her neck softly to try and comfort her as he looks around the town as well. People in the alleys eye them as they pass by, a fair few of them catching his suspicions as he holds Larisa close to his side.

They soon come to a far point of the town where a chasm can be seen dividing the common area from a massive white dome can be seen looming over all the other buildings. Only a small bridge can be seen connecting the two sides of the chasm, one they are unwilling to cross.

However, to the right of the forbidding chasm appears to be a tall, white building next to the canyon's cliff. This place is seen to be less uninviting than the rest of the town, leading to the four to come to it with curiosity. The front of the building shows four large letters, _ONBS_, and in smaller text beneath them says, _Orre News Broadcasting Station_.

Outside the building is a rather large man who looks at them with caution as they approach, standing still in front of the door with his arms folded. As they come to him, he speaks in a deep and opposing tone, yet in a somewhat welcoming manner.

"What brings you guys to this place? Do you have an appointment?"

James looks at the man for a moment, before responding. "Actually, we're not from here. We're traveling the region, trying to find out what we can about two groups who may have been around here. Have you seen any suspicious activity?"

The man lowers a brow at his question as if he'd asked something completely obsurd. "Do you realize where you are? Pyrite Town is the motherload of scoundrels and other nutty people. Suspicious happens every day."

Vincent puts his hand on his face and sighs, then steps up. "That's... not exactly what he was saying. Let me put it to you this way. We believe there are other people from other countries in this region, who could potentially bring danger too the people here. We're asking if you or anyone else have noticed anything... out of the ordinary."

The man stares at them suspiciously, lowering his voice now. "Are you guys crazy? Do you know what a story like that's gonna cause with people like these around? Go take your nut-job plot somewhere else before you start a riot."

Another male's voice on a nearby speaker chimes in, sounding younger. "Is everything okay out there?"

They all look at the speaker, and Vincent soon realizes there is a camera above it that has been watching them. The large man goes over and pushes a button by the speaker. "We got these guys here telling some story about a bunch of people coming and terrorizing the region."

After a moment of silence, the other voice finally responds. "Bring them in, please."

"You sure, Nett? We never met these people."

"Yes, I want to talk to them."

The man turns back to them, staring at them for a bit, before stepping aside. "Go on in then."

They nod and walk into the building, taking immediate notice to the air conditioned interior in comparison to the desert climate outside. As they look around, they notice this place has been well-maintained, unlike the rest of the town. The floor is made of polished marble tiles, and the walls are clean and white, lined with lights that go to the back wall, which turns to a hallway to the right. There is a service desk in the middle of the room, where a teal-haired girl is seen alongside a Breloom.

As they walk to the desk, they are greeted by the girl. "Welcome to the Orre News Broadcasting Station. My name is Megg. How can I help you."

Vincent is about to speak, before the phone rings, and she blinks, motioning for them to wait, before picking it up. "Yes, Nett?"

James eyes her, then pulls out his phone and goes through some things on it.

After a moment, she looks at them. "Okay. I'll send them up."

She hangs up the phone and smiles to them. "Sorry for that. I understand the director is expecting you. If you take the hallway behind me to the end, there is an elevator that will take you to the top floor, where his office is."

Vincent slowly nods and looks at James, before walking around the desk. "Thank you."

They all go down the hallway and to a tubular elevator with a glass door, which opens as they approach it. As they go in, Vincent presses a button on the back wall, causing the elevator to lift up several floors before stopping. The door opens soon after, and they walk out, looking around.

They are now in an open room similar to the ground level, the difference being this one has windows viewing outside, and in the back is another door. As they come to it, Vincent knocks on it, soon hearing the young male voice respond. "Yes, come in!"

As they open the door to walk into the smaller room, they take notice to the brown carpet floor beneath them and dark brown walls, which are lined with shelves and tables. A large, wooden desk sits in the back, occupied by a young man with short, dark brown hair and wearing a red button-up shirt, bearing a tag labeled "ONBS" and the name "Nett" below it.

He looks towards them, appearing somewhat busy, but waving them over regardless as he stands from his chair. He holds his hand out to shake each of theirs, then looks at Larisa with a somewhat surprised look, making her look down in discomfort.

After a brief moment, he says, "Welcome to O.N.B.S. My name is Nett. And you are..?"

They each introduce themselves, and he smiles. "Nice to meet you. My apologies if this place isn't what you may have expected. It's been reconstructed a few times over the last couple years."

Vincent shrugs, taking no mind to this, and speaking up. "Hey, listen. We can't stay, so we wanted to just ask... What do you know-"

"About Chora and Nero?" Nett interrupts, before walking around his desk towards a table by the wall, where there are several papers scattered about around a laptop.

"Well for starters, I know that the two countries are on the same continent as this region, actually on either side of us. We at ONBS have been keeping our eyes and ears open to the happenings around Orre, and have come to realize things have become quite different lately."

Vincent takes a step forward. "How different, exactly..?"

"Since the defeat of a cyndicate that once caused chaos in this region, the people have believed that they could live in peace. After all, the experiments with these _Shadow Pokemon_ have ceased."

Vincent nods slowly. "Yes, I've heard about Cipher... But what happened since then?"

Nett pulls up a program on the laptop and fidgets around with it, before motioning for them to come over.

"Chora is a country descending from the worshippers of Groudon, and Nero is descent to the worshippers of Kyogre. These two countries have been in disagreements since the early ages, so the history says. And Orre has seen its fair share of these disagreements. But only recently has it been directly involved with them."

Vincent looks over the map, showing various points of the region where there have been attacks from either country. There also appears to be a scaled map showing the country of Nero to the coastal northwest of the region and Chora to the east, in the mountains range.

"...So these have been reported to be points of interest with the two sides."

Nett nods. "That's right. There have been several explosions, people winding up attacked when trying to interfere with their affairs, and even some records of battles between smaller groups from both sides."

Vincent blinks. "And the public doesn't know what it is?"

"We haven't been given a substantial amount of evidence to bring to the public, proving that these activities are, in fact, from Chora and Nero. They only hear the rumors that have gone around, many of which have been dismissed. Which makes me curious as to how you know of this."

James shakes his head. "We can't really... explain how we know. There's still so much we _don't_ know, which is why we need more information about them. There should be a way for this to be stopped. If one of the countries is to be victorious in this war, it could lead to catastrophic changes in the world."

"Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean catastrophic changes?"

Vincent looks back at Nett. "These people possess abilities that are beyond that of the normal individual. It's an ancient lore in their countries, and they've come to master them. The only thing keeping them from lashing out on the world... is each other. And if one of them is eliminated, who knows what could happen?"

Nett stares at him for what seems like forever, before turning to walk to his desk. "I think that's enough. The guard was right, you are telling crazy stories."

James growls. "We're not lying! Every word is the truth!"

Vincent nudges him. "Hey, calm down... There's no sense getting worked up about it."

James looks at him, then grunts. "I should've expected something like this in such a place." He storms out of the room, and Vincent looks back at Nett, who is watching them intently. He shakes his head, and walks out, Larisa and Lou following him.

As they leave the building and go back through the town, a group of people come out of a nearby alley and stop in front of them. The person in front, a muscular man in a rider's jacket and jeans, wearing a bandana on his head, smirks as he eyes the four.

"Woah woah, hey fellas. Where're you off to in such a rush? Got some plans?"

Larisa moves closer to Vincent, staring at the group and growing nervous. He puts his hand on her paw and stays in place. "...We don't want any trouble, okay?"

The leader chuckles and takes a step forward. "You gave me a look. You were askin' for trouble since you came here. You think we're just gonna let ya waltz out of here for nothin'? I might be up to makin' a deal... if you got something of value for us."

Vincent glares at him, then moves to try and pass him while holding onto Larisa. But the man smacks his hand down on his shoulder to stop him.

Immediately in response, a silvery glint flashes in Vincent's eyes, and he releases Larisa's paw, grabbing the man's hand and spinning around to forcibly slam him to the ground. Everyone in the group gasps in shock as their leader is apparently taken down with little effort. Vincent then jerks the man's arm behind his back and puts his foot on him, growling. "Stay down..."

The man struggles, being an unbelievable sight for his size in comparison to Vincent, and he grunts. "Alright, alright! You don't have to get all wild about it!"

James, Lou and Larisa just stare at Vincent in surprise to his unexpected lash to the person, and he looks around at the group of people, who back up slowly. But shortly, someone's voice is heard in the distance.

"Hey, hey! Is there a problem here?"

As everyone looks towards the voice, they see an older man, probably in his fifties, in a blue and red uniform and carrying a baton. Vincent lets go of the man and stands up, looking at the apparent person of authority. And one of the other people in the group speaks up. "No, Chief Sherles, nothin's going on. We were just leaving."

Sherles raises a brow, and they all immediately turn to walk off, the downed leader stumbling up and pushing Vincent away, before going off with them. Vincent glares at him as he leaves.

After they're out of sight, Sherles puts his baton away and walks over to the four. "I hope they didn't cause you too much trouble."

Vincent looks back at him, then slowly shakes his head. "No... We're fine."

He nods, appearing a little concerned. "This town has a history of outlaws, so much so that outsiders refuse to come here anymore. And I might suggest you do the same. It isn't safe for the faint of heart."

Vincent looks back at the others, who come over to him, and he sighs. "Let's go... Before things get worse."

James nods. "Right. I have suspicions that things are about to get a _lot_ worse in a little bit..."

Vincent eyes him suspectingly, and he walks over to the motorcycle, which they left behind a small cliff to keep from being noticed by other people. He then looks back at Sherles, who nods to them.

"Farewell to you. And be careful."

He nods back to him and starts off, the other two following him. Sherles watches them as they get on the motorcycle, and soon drive away.

- - - - -

"Hey, Nett? Look at this..."

Nett goes over to the computer where one of the employees is and looks at the screen, before growling. "Those guys hacked us! Right under our noses!"

- - - - -

As night falls, James pulls off to a cliffside near the edge of the canyon. They've made a large bit of distance from Pyrite, and now feel safe enough to rest.

As the four stay the night, they discuss what they've learned about what has happened.

"So we know that Chora and Nero are already fighting," Vincent brings up. "But it really seems that they're just all over the place. How are we going to find out where they'll strike next?"

James leans back against the cliff. "That guy, Nett, showed us a map of where they've attacked."

"Yeah, but I didn't look at it enough to really make sense of anything..."

He pulls out his phone and goes through a few menus, before giving it to Vincent. On the screen is an exact copy of the map that was on the laptop.

"...Wait, did you..."

"Yep."

Vincent looks at James. "You're just as bad as your brother... When did you even do this?"

"When the girl up front was on the phone, I decided to do some work of my own. So I broke into ONBS' network and downloaded all the data I could find about the recent occurances."

"...That is so wrong. You know what'll happen if they manage to find us."

"They won't find us..."

"That's not the point, you should have some morals, James. You know, hacking into secure, official servers is something you shouldn't do."

James sighs and drops his head back against the cliffside. "You're worrying to much. It's really not like I'll be here for anything bad to happen. Once my task ends, I'll go back to the Spiritual World and everything'll be fine. I won't have to deal with this world."

Vincent stares at him, not believing what he had heard. "What did you just say..?"

Lou shifts a bit, knowing where this is going. And Larisa puts her paw on Vincent's shoulder. But James just looks at him with a serious look.

"We're Messangers, Vincent. We come here, we do our task, we leave. It's how it works. There's no sense in staying so attached to people here because you're just going to ditch them in the end."

"Is that what you think? Even when you grew so close to Jack, even when you had a connection to the family you grew up with here. Is that really what you see in it? Just a fake bond?"

James shrugs. "I care for Jack. But pretty soon, I'm just gonna have to let go. And you should too. If you keep going on, trying to fix what happened, lingering on about your parents, it's just gonna destroy you. You'd fail your task here just like you did your last one. Emotional sentiment..."

Vincent throws the phone at him and gets up, walking off, and Larisa hovers up, quickly following after him.

After being hit, James grunts and shakes his head, before looking back towards Vincent. It takes a bit before he realizes what he started. "...I'm sorry, Vincent! Really!"

But Vincent ignores him and walks around the canyon, out of sight. James sighs and closes his eyes. "What did I do to deserve all this..."

Lou eyes him for a moment. "Being in the Council is no easy thing... Ever since I joined, I've noticed just how much we all can be affected by what goes on. And it makes me wonder if I made a right choice..."

James shakes his head and looks at the ground. "Yeah, but... I wish it didn't have to always be like this."

Soon, he reaches over and picks up his phone, brushing off the screen and looking at it. After a moment, he looks closer, examining the map. He then taps the screen, and moves his finger to draw a line between all the places that were targeted in order, eventually forming an incomplete circle.

"...It isn't random. There's meaning behind it... And their next target..." He quickly stands up. "We need to find Vincent and Larisa. Now!" He runs off, and Lou blinks and gets up, running after him and calling out to him.

- - - - -

"Vincent, stop!"

Vincent comes to a stop and clenches his fist, staring ahead. "He shouldn't have said that..."

Larisa flies around in front of him and looks at him. "Maybe so, but this isn't going to make anything better."

Vincent growls and hits the cliffside with his hand. "It wasn't like him... He never says things like that. He may be a prick at times, but that was cruel."

The Latias sighs and moves closer to put her paws on his shoulders, and he leans back against the cliff, looking to the side and at the ground.

"...Did I ever tell you? About my last task?"

She slowly shakes her head. "No..."

Vincent is silent for a bit, then goes on. "During my last task... I was sent to a different realm to prevent an attack on a forest of innocent pokemon. It was meant to be a task of less urgency than most, but I went to take part in it."

Larisa listens as he continues to speak. "When the real task began, my family in that life was ambushed by a dark group... I lost someone I was close to, and driven out of the forest. And as I traveled, I searched for a way to try and bring peace back to the forest. But it wasn't enough..."

He closes his eyes and winces. "...When I finally returned to the forest, it was already too late. Everyone who lived there had been slaughtered in the attack, bringing about the failure to my task and crushing me. Once I returned to the Spiritual World, I felt I couldn't do it again. That this failure had made me too weak to continue being a Messanger. But many others helped me to realize I had more to strive for. That I could still come back and serve my role. And so I was chosen later on to come here. To serve this task, when no one else could."

Larisa looks into his eyes as he opens them again, and he shakes his head. "That's why I broke when James said what he did. But... that's not the person I know in him. Something must have driven him to it."

The Latias moves closer to hug him, being all she can do, and he lowers his head, returning the hug.

After a short time, the two hear James' voice call out to them as he and Lou run towards them. Vincent looks up towards him, staring in silence.

When they reach them, James looks at Vincent, appearing remorseful now. "Look, I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said that, I don't know what I was thinking."

Vincent sighs and shakes his head. "You crossed the line there, you know that?"

Larisa lets go of him as he steps towards James. "Why did you say it?"

"I..." James looks down. "I really don't know. After we left Pyrite, when we were driving off, something came over me. The reason I stopped was that I was actually feeling really angry. I knew if I kept going, I could wreck the motorcycle and hurt us. But when we were talking... I just don't know what happened. I let my negative feelings take over."

"And yet you brought up emotional sentiment."

James shakes his head. "...I think that was aimed more towards myself."

Vincent stares at him, before walking over and lightly smacking his arm. "Let's just let it go. It never happened."

James looks back at him for a bit, then nods slowly. "Right..."

Lou looks between them and then butts in. "Okay, we settled the whole thing. Now wasn't there something urgent we needed to bring up?"

James looks at him, quickly realizing what he came to say. "Crap! That's right." He looks back at the other two. "We gotta go. I checked out the map again, and they're coming here as we speak. Pyrite Canyon is their next target."

Vincent blinks, the news immediately registering to him. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, they'll be in the area any-"

Before he can finish, the four are split apart by a purple Flamethrower, and they quickly turn to the source.

Three people dressed in red cloaks are seen in the distance, along with a Lampent hovering above them. They take no time in directing another attack, the Lampent firing a Shadow Ball towards them. But they quickly dodge the attack and cast their swords, while Larisa gets into a stance.

One of the people calls something to the other two in another language, and they nod, all of them surrounding the four. Vincent looks around at them, holding onto his sword.

"So much for talking sense into them, if they can't understand us..."

The person shouts another order to the others, and immediately, the three slam their fists on the ground, creating a massive tremor as a hole breaks open below them. Vincent, quick to respond, immediately jumps out of the way, pushing James and Lou to the side. As they fall to the ground, he spins around with his sword, releasing a blade of energy in all directions and striking the three.

The tremors stop as they all fall backwards, and the Lampent charges another Flamethrower in response. But Larisa immediately releases a Mist Ball at it, creating an explosion of flames that takes it out.

As James and Lou stand back up again, the other three individuals are starting to stagger up from the attack. But as they hold their swords out to get ready, a ring of black energy bursts up around them. And the only thing they hear are the raspy yelps of the assailants, before the energy disperses, leaving nothing left in its place.

As they all look around, they begin to sense an even larger threat, soon coming to see the faint image another person standing atop the canyon cliff in the darkness, dressed in a black cloak with its hood up.

Lou squints his eyes to look at him, before slowly stepping back. "It's you... You're..."

The individual turns his gaze to him, before uttering in a quiet tone. "You've much outlived your usefulness." Immediately after, he disperses into darkness, and reappears behind Lou. He thrusts his hand out to hit his back, shouting, "_Expello Phasmatis_!" And not a second later, Lou flashes green and is launched off into the cliff with incredible force, before falling limply to the ground.

Vincent looks at him in shock and runs over to him. "Lou!"

James stares at Lou, not believing what just happened right in front of him. He then turns to the individual, grasping his sword. "Who are you!?"

Lou soon fades into silver particles as Vincent kneels down to him, and he growls, turning back to the attacker. He is barely seen smirking, as he brings his hands up to pull back his hood, revealing his face. He appears astonishingly similar to James in every way, other than his hair being much darker.

Vincent stands up and glares at him, and James' eyes grow larger as he steps back. "No way... How could you have survived?"

The individual chuckles quietly and stands there, taking delight in James' and Vincent's bafflement. "You never have learned. It's not surprising, really... I am but an embodiment of darkness. I do not die, nor do I live. But oh how I have taken much pleasure in tormenting you so very long ago... You remember, right? How I lived within you, and used you as a puppet, long before you were inducted into that Council of yours?"

"Shut up!" James runs over and takes a swipe at him, but he steps out of the way and grabs onto his arm, throwing him to the ground.

"Here's a lesson for you, James... You cannot protect against yourself. And no matter what you do, I will be here every step of the way. You created me. And I will forever be your living hell..."

He disperses into darkness again just as Vincent starts to run towards him, and soon after, James yells out as his body bursts with dark energy. Vincent gasps and stops for a second, then instinctively rushes over to James, the energy fading away to leave him lying motionless.

Vincent drops down to his side and puts his hand on him. "James! James, can you hear me?"

Larisa looks on at the scene in shock, not sure what to do now. As the sword in James' hand fades away, Vincent looks to see it being replaced by a jagged black one. And Vincent slowly stands up, hearing the faint laugh from him.

James staggers up to a kneeling position, holding onto the sword, and then comes to his feet. He stands still for several seconds, before turning his gaze towards Vincent, his eyes visibly glowing a pale green. "...It's good to be back at last."

Vincent steps back, staring at him with both shock and anger. "It's not possible..."

"Hard to believe, Vincent? That your best friend has been reclaimed by his inner darkness. How torturous must it be to lose one you care for right in front of your eyes, and you can do nothing about it? If I recall... it happened before, did it not?"

Vincent stops and glares at him after hearing this. "...That was you? You're the one who rode the Moltres? You're the one who killed my parents!?"

James smirks and turns to walk off a few feet. "You take forever to catch on. As always, you're just one step behind. You're so easy to manipulate. It makes me wonder just how everyone sees you as such a threat. If anything, you're more of a threat to the Spiritual Council."

Vincent growls and casts his sword. "I've heard enough..."

Larisa moves to come closer to Vincent, and he holds his sword out, making her stop where she is. "...Stay out of this, Larisa. I will deal with him..."

James turns back to face him. "It burns you so much, doesn't it? How a cruel fate could befall just one person, forced to bear witness to the destruction of everything around him. Hatred fills your heart, and you just want to lash back and erase it all. But I believe if you truly knew yourself, you wouldn't think in such a way, would you?"

Vincent steps forward, holding his sword in front of himself, and James grasps his own. "Gonna come after me now? Strike me down, I dare you. I'll release your friend the second that blade makes contact, and you'll get to watch him die, by your own hands."

Vincent slowly stops, and James smirks. "Heh... Can't do it?"

Larisa glares at him, wanting to intervine, but conflicted when she knows what could happen from it. And Vincent growls deeply, lowering his sword.

James brings his own sword down as well, and grins. "Emotional sentiment..." He rushes forward, and strikes Vincent across the chest with his sword, ripping apart his shirt and making a rather deep wound as the jagged blade tears through him. He stumbles back and Larisa screams out his name, before James thrusts his hand out, blasting him back with an enormous burst of dark energy.

Vincent hits the ground and rolls several yards, before coming to a stop on his stomach, bleeding profusely as he starts to lose consciousness. Larisa rushes after James, attempting to attack, before he throws his hand out and fires a green streak of energy. "_Crux_!"

On impact, she screams and falls to the ground, shaking violently for several seconds as immense pain rushes through her body. He then walks towards Vincent, holding his sword out and ready to attack. And just as he loses consciousness, he hears another person's voice call out to him.

The rest now plays in the hands of this unknown savior... 


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - Starting On A Clean Slate

"My lord... They have taken him to Dialga."

"Good... Things have gone as planned. Let us commence..."

"Vincent! Vincent, can you hear me? Vincent!"

As Vincent starts to regain consciousness, he groans to the sound of a female's voice shouting to him. He soon opens his eyes, his vision blurred as he looks around, disoriented. After a while, he begins to focus, noticing he is laying on flat, deep blue stone.

Larisa, who was hovering by him, immediately grabs him in a tight hug. "You're awake! Oh, I couldn't be any more relieved..."

Vincent struggles, gasping from being nearly crushed in the Latias' tight grip. And she blinks, then quickly lets go of him. "Oh! S-Sorry..."

He coughs and falls back on the ground, taking a few deep breaths before looking up at her. "I missed you too..."

Larisa makes a small purr. "I thought I lost you... If it wasn't for that dragon, I... I don't know what would've happened..."

Vincent looks at her curiously. "Dragon...?"

"Eriah, we need to act now. James has already been overtaken. He's too powerful."

A large, black dragon comes down to Lucas and Salamence, who are flying above Pyrite Canyon, overlooking Vincent and James. She is seen to have emerald green eyes and the undersides of her large wings are shaded a deep crimson. She nods slowly to him. "I will take Vincent away from here. You need hold James off."

Lucas looks towards her. "This will be our farewell then. From here on, you must watch over Vincent. His journey will be long and perilous. He will need your guidance."

"Indeed... I wish you luck, Lucas Crane."

He nods and looks towards the two below, just in time to catch the sight of James' fatal attack to Vincent. He shouts out to him and immediately pats Salamence, making him dart down towards them. As James steps towards Vincent, he soon stops to see the dragon pokemon flying towards him, and jumps back to avoid what would've been a rather brutal bite.

Salamence roars and releases a powerful Dragon Pulse at James, who holds his sword in front of himself, being blown back by the attack but having protected from much of the damage.

As they fight, Eriah flies down to Vincent and looks him over, clearly seeing that his breathing is faint. There isn't much time now, and she levetates him onto her back. She then looks at Larisa, who hovers up, still in pain from being stricken by James' curse. But the Latias turns to face the dragon, yelping in surprise and fear from the large creature.

However, Eriah shows no sign of hostility, and merely looks towards the north. She flaps her wings and takes to the air, before flying off at high speed. And Larisa shouts out to her, following her as fast as she can.

It isn't long before they are long out of sight of James and Lucas, as Eriah races towards a distant island in the north...

"...So that's how it happened."

A deep voice echoes through the area. "Had she brought you here much later, you may have been lost."

Vincent and Larisa look up towards one whom they see as Dialga, standing atop a nearby cliff. As Vincent sits up, he looks around at the area he's in, taking note of its entirely blue color as he finds himself in a small valley surrounded by a crescent-shaped mountain range.

"And you... saved me, then?"

"I have been able to reverse the effects of the wound to the point of never having been created. However, I highly suggest that you take care in the future. I cannot further mend your reckless acts."

Vincent sighs and rests his arm on his knee, before realizing what he is sitting on and jumping to his feet.

Below him is a huge, circular shape inscribed into the stone, patterned with an intricate design looking very much like an analog clock. He stares it over, stepping off it as it appears to be glowing faintly. "Is that..."

Dialga stares down towards the pattern. "That is, indeed, the Temporal Seal. It is the very thing that maintains the flow of time throughout this realm. And it is also linked to the task for which you have been set on."

Vincent looks at the Seal a bit longer, before turning his gaze up to Dialga. "Then that means this is the Northern Flare Continent."

"You are correct."

Vincent slowly nods and looks down in thought. "...What happened-"

"James has been forced to retreat. The Spacial Messanger is currently confronting to the countries of Chora and Nero to stop their conflict. You will not have to worry."

Vincent looks back up at him, having taken surprise at this. "Lucas is here? But his task is in the Dusk Realm."

Dialga turns his gaze off towards the ocean that is seen in the distance. "Indeed. However, the Spacial Task is linked to the Temporal Task. They are but of the same nature. And until your task is completed, he cannot proceed with his."

Vincent grows silent, looking down with a sense of discontent. "...So then both tasks ride on my shoulders. If I fail, then so does he..."

"You may take comfort in knowing you are not alone. And as you progress, you will find many allies."

Larisa looks at Vincent, who still seems uncertain, and she moves over to hug him. "Vincent..? I'll always be here with you..."

After a while, Vincent sighs and finally returns the hug, shaking his head. "I know... But the further I get, the more dangerous it will become. I don't want something to happen to you or the others."

"Something will happen to everyone if we don't help you..You know you can't take this on alone, so let us help."

Dialga closes his eyes, his low growl being heard across the valley. "Vincent... You must leave here."

Vincent looks back up at him. "What..? Is something happening?"

Dialga lowers his head, and soon, the blurred image of someone standing in front of him can be seen. As Vincent looks closer, it starts to become clear. A tall person is seen facing Dialga, wearing a pitch black cloak and speaking in a quiet voice to him.

Dialga growls deeply and the Temporal Seal begins to flicker. "Leave now, Vincent... Leave!"

Vincent and Larisa move back slowly, and Vincent's eyes flicker as a split image surges through him, making him realize what is happening. He immediately grabs Larisa's paw and turns to run off. Meanwhile, Dialga appears to be growing enraged as he opens his eyes. What were once a bright, ruby red are now a dark maroon and filled with rage as he glares at the individual in front of him.

Only a faint laugh can be heard from the person as his fades away, just before Dialga releases a deafening roar, causing Vincent and Larisa to fall forward. They both look back to see his appearance begin to change. His blue color becomes darker as the lighter blue lines on his body begin to distort, flickering before they start to turn a bright orange. And the most noticable change is that of his chest diamond, which has now turned to a deep red color.

Almost immediately on this change, the island begins to radiate a powerful ominous energy. Vincent looks in disbelief as the deity of time has now entered a Primal state. He quickly scrambles to his feet and runs off towards the ocean along with Larisa. And as they come to the shore, he looks around for anything that could get them off the island. But there is nothing in sight. As he turns back towards Dialga, he can see a field of energy building up around him, and he acts on instinct, diving into the water.

Larisa blinks and yelps, then dives down after him, just as Dialga unleashes a massive blast across the entire island and several miles out across the sea, vaporizing any living thing in the vicinity and turning the area dark as night.

Having been hit by the shockwave of the blast, Vincent is quickly knocked out by the force. Larisa, seeing this, takes action and brings him up to the surface.

"Vincent, wake up!" She shakes him desperately, but gets no response, and whimpers. "Vincent!"

The area, having now grown deathly silent, radiates an overwhelming aura, causing Larisa to pant weakly as she looks back towards the island. All she can see in the pitch black area is the dim orange glow from Dialga's body lines and the red glow of his diamond.

And as she finally fades out, the two drift off into the open ocean, left to the mercy of the vast water...

In a thick, snowy forest, a Suicune ventures off to the land's shore, overlooking the sea which spans as far as the eye can see. The quadrupedal water pokemon leans down to take a drink from the water, which glows in a greenish light to its touch.

As the Suicune drinks, it eventually notices two figures drift to the shore in the distance. It lifts its head to look towards the unknown entities, and cautiously walks towards the two. As it approaches, it finds itself upon a male teen and a Latias, who are both unconscious.

The pokemon curiously leans down to nudge the person with its nose, getting no more than a slight groan. It then takes a step closer and places a paw on him, radiating a soft aura over him, before moving back a few feet.

As the person starts to regain consciousness, the Suicune snorts and turns off, running away and disappearing deep into the forest.

As Vincent wakes up, he finds himself in a brightly lit area which blinds him the instant he opens his eyes. He yelps and covers his face with his arms, trying to compose himself.

As he starts to get a sense of where he is, he begins to feel many things.

A sense of loneliness...

A feeling of loss and hopelessness...

And... cold?

He quickly sits up and looks around, quickly being brought into the reality he's in and learning that he is surrounded by a blanket of snow and countless trees. He takes several deep breaths and rubs his hands together, putting them over his mouth to try and warm them up.

As he looks to his side, he notices Larisa lying next to him, her body shivering in her sleep. Clearly, she is far colder than he is. As he reaches over to touch her, he can feel that her feathery down is nearly frozen.

He moves over to her and puts his bag down, actually surprised he didn't lose it in the sea. As he rummages through it, he notices that everything inside is still wet, including both of his blankets. He comes to realize that covering her in one would only make it worse for her. He slams the bag back down in irritation, not knowing what to do now.

The only thing that comes to his mind is to try and carry her somewhere warmer first. He closes his bag again and straps it over his shoulder, then moves in front of her, taking her up over his back and leaning forward to try and steady her. He then staggers off into the forest.

After walking for several minutes, he starts to feel weaker, having taken a lot from the cold while trying to carry Larisa through the forest. He comes to a large tree and uses his foot to brush some snow away and clear an open spot. He then sets Larisa down, before collapsing by her and coughing.

He puts his hand on her again, feeling that she hasn't gotten any warmer. He growls a bit and sits up, placing both hands on her. He then closes his eyes as his palms glow a faint orange, uttering a single word, "_Aestus_," as he uses what energy he can to warm her body. He moves his hands around her body to massage her as the warmth spreads across her.

He continues to hold the spell for as long as he can, before he is forced to stop it so he doesn't pass out. He drops his hands on the ground, using them to stablize himself as he pants heavily. He looks at Larisa, then moves closer to hug her tightly, feeling that it may be too late.

But soon, a small glimmer of light comes from her in the form of a soft whine, and Vincent looks at her again with a blink. He then feels a sudden surge of new hope as he now knows she is starting to come to. He holds his arms around her and closes his eyes, uttering once more, "_Aestus Magnum_!"

His entire body then glows as he radiates heat all around himself. The snow within several feet of them melts and the bark on the tree turns a darker color as the temperature in the air rapidly increases.

As the glow starts to fade, faint purrs can be heard from Larisa as she begins to wake up. After a short time, she slowly opens her eyes, seeing him still holding her, and then brushing her muzzle against him.

He then opens his eyes to look at her for a moment, then smiles in relief to see that she's awake.

After a short while, the two hear footsteps through the snow, and look around, before turning towards the sound. It is then that they see an elderly woman with greyish green hair and sea green eyes walking towards them alongside two younger men. Each of them is wearing a thick, hooded, white cloak. The older woman is also carrying a staff that is oddly adorned at the top to look similar to the head of a Hoothoot.

She calls out to them immediately after realizing what they are. "Goodness, what are you two doing out in a place like this? You must be freezing!"

Vincent looks up at her curiously, but is too weak to say much of anything. She looks at the two men with her and nods to them, and they run over to help him and Larisa up. She then walks over to them. "Come, come! Let us get you to someplace warmer."

After walking a ways through the forest, they come through a stone archway that leads to a more open part of the forest, which appears to have many treehouses.

As Vincent and Larisa look around, the other three take them to a nearby home. The old woman opens the door and they all walk inside. The two men then place Vincent and Larisa onto two separate beds.

As Vincent looks around, he sees that this is a fairly small place, having no electronic appliances. These people appear to rely solely on the natural resources.

"...Where are we?"

The woman sits in a chair by the table and looks at him and Larisa. "This is the village of Arborville. It's a small and quiet place outside the Northwind Forest, where you two just were."

Vincent blinks and looks back at her. "...Is this Johto?"

She nods and smiles. "You must have drifted in from the ocean. That must've been quite a trip you took, young man. You've got to be quite cold."

Vincent sighs and looks at Larisa. "Yeah..."

The woman looks between them, before getting up. "I've got just the thing for you."

She then walks outside. A moment later, she comes back in with two steaming cups and places them on the table. Vincent and Larisa look at them, before going over.

"Not to worry, it's herbal tea. It's a village specialty."

Vincent sits down in a chair across from hers, and she does so as well. He picks up a cup and blows on it, before taking a sip, then nods to her.

The woman then speaks up again. "My name is Towa, by the way. My apologies for not introducing myself earlier."

"Vincent. And this is Larisa."

Larisa coos softly in response, and Towa smiles to her. "Glad to make your acquaintance. So where are you two from?"

Vincent puts the cup back down. "We lived in the town of Pallet, in the Kanto region."

Towa blinks at that. "You live in the Kanto region? But why were you in the sea here then? This is quite a ways from your home..."

Vincent looks down. "It's... a long story."

Larisa looks at him, then goes over to hug him, and he closes his eyes, remembering all that has happened since he left home. Joining James on his task, meeting Lou and traveling through Orre. Then the point when James was taken away, and Lou was slain. And finally, the arrival to Flare, and Dialga's turning point. It is all vivid to him still. And it all happened so quickly.

Towa looks at him with concern. "If you wish to talk about it, I would be happy to listen. I can see you've gone through a lot, by your expression."

"More than you could imagine..." Vincent looks at her again. "I'll have to start from the very beginning..."

She slowly nods, and he soon begins.

~Three Weeks Later~

"Hey... Larisa? Do you see that, just up ahead?"

Larisa looks through the snowy field, towards the small town that sits in the distance. The two have been traveling through Johto, having blankets over them to keep warm from the weather. "Is that... New Bark?"

Vincent nods and smiles. "We finally made it back. If we go through there, we'll make it back into Kanto. And then..."

"Back home..."

Vincent stares at the town, which has a quaint and peaceful feel under the dim light of the moon. It almost feels just like Pallet.

"I'm glad you came with me, through all this. Without you, I could never have made it this far..."

Larisa looks at him for a moment, before moving over to nuzzle at his shoulder. "I could never leave you."

He smiles a bit and strokes her neck. "...Merry Christmas, Larisa."

The Latias blinks, then giggles lightly and hugs him. "Merry Christmas to you too."

The two soon go ahead, to the town of New Bark, where they would be staying one more night on their journey back home. And once they finally arrive to Pallet, it will be a clean slate for them... a new year and a new beginning. From here on, Vincent's real task will start. He is determined to find out what happened to Dialga, and restore him _and_ James... as his role as the Messanger of Time is about to begin...

* * *

_The first part of The Messanger of Time has come to an end. But the story is only beginning._  
_Read on to Part Two, where the real adventure starts, and everything we once knew changes..._


	12. Chapter 11

**Part 2 - The Messanger Of**** Time**

Chapter 11 - Beginning Of A New Journey

~January 1, 2007~

"There's Pallet! Right through the trees!"

Vincent blinks and looks ahead from Larisa's voice, seeing an opening through the trees. "Hey... You're right. That was fast..."

Larisa smiles and pokes his arm. "Getting distracted again? Come on, we're home now."

Vincent chuckles quietly, somewhat embarrassed by the comment, but then nodding in agreement. "Right. Let's go." He starts off, then slips over a bed of snow and falls backwards, and Larisa meeps in surprise.

"Vincent! Are you okay?"

He groans lightly and rubs the back of his head. "Stupid snow..."

The Latias stares down at him and giggles. "Do you have to learn how to walk again?"

Vincent glares up at her and pulls him up. "It's not my fault Johto and Kanto have bipolar weather. It wasn't snowing when we left two months ago..."

Larisa shakes her head. "You should be used to it by now. One moment, it's clear, the next, it's a blizzard."

"I got that..." He moves his blanket down from his head and brushes the snow out of his hair, then looks back ahead. "Let's try this again."

The two go for a few seconds, before they hear the faint sound of approaching engines. Vincent stops to the sound and stares ahead. "Do you hear that..?"

Larisa nods slowly. "Yeah... What could it be?"

They look at each other, then rush ahead to the open plain, only to get sight of something disturbing.

A group of large trucks and bulldozers are approaching the forest from Pallet, leaving behind a crowd of people in the town who appear to be in distress. They go towards the trucks and stop in front of them, forcing them to a halt as one of the drivers moves his head out the window of his vehicle.

"Hey, what are you doing, kid!? You're gonna get yourself killed!"

Vincent shouts back to the driver. "What's going on here!?"

"What does it look like? We're cutting down this forest! Didn't you read the memo?"

Vincent tenses up at this, and glares at them. "You're what? With what right!?"

Another driver shouts from his truck. "Get out of the way, kid! We're trying to work here!"

Larisa looks at Vincent with worry. "What do we do..?"

Vincent growls and holds his arms out from his sides. "You won't touch the forest."

The second driver scoffs and starts his truck again, then proceeds ahead, followed by the others. And Larisa quickly pushes Vincent out of the way of one of them.

As they drive by, one from the back calls out to them. "Go back home! You're only getting yourself into danger!"

Vincent gets up and shoots a glare at them, his hands glowing. But Larisa moves in front of him. "Vincent, stop! There's nothing we can do..."

He looks at her, then growls and his hands stop glowing. He then runs to the crowd in the town. "I want to know who let this happen."

A woman goes to him and gives him a sheet of paper, before responding. "Apparently the officials from Saffron have made arrangements for a trade with Goldenrod by use of transport vehicles, and the Western Forest is in the way of that..."

Larisa flies over as Vincent looks over the sheet. "A trade... But couldn't they simply do that with the Magnet Train?"

Another man speaks up. "That's what everyone says. But they make an argument that the train is meant for passangers and not shipment of cargo."

He looks up at the man. "That's crazy..! Don't they realize how many pokemon they could drive out of their home by cutting the forest down?"

"It's just empty words to them... They're concerned about profit."

Vincent crumbles the paper and gives it back to the woman. "They need to quit trying to destroy the natural terrain just for money. Didn't they learn when they tried to blow their way through the Silver Mountains to get to Blackthorn Ridge before, and the rockslide happened? If places were meant to be accessed, they would be already."

The woman shakes her head. "Tell that to them..."

He and Larisa look back at the forest as the bulldozers in the front of the group start moving in to knock down the trees. He growls at the idea of not being able to stop them from taking out the forest he's spent much of his life wandering in.

But as they're just about to touch the trees, a green light is seen emanating from deep inside the forest, drawing the attention of the crowd and many of the drivers. As everyone looks towards the source of the light, a wave of teal energy spreads in all directions, causing a massive distortion in the area.

Vincent immediately runs towards the forest, just in time to see a small, green creature fly out above the trucks, and release a bright light. And just as it happens, everyone that is in the vicinity is taken away by a mysterious power, vanishing into thin air.

But Vincent is only able to get a short view of it, before he grunts loudly and drops to one knee. Seeing this, Larisa quickly rushes over to him, calling his name.

"Are you okay!?"

He shuts his eyes tightly as he feels a surging pain run through his head. "I-It hurts..."

"What..? What is it?" The Latias hovers down to his side as he pants, then he soon falls forward, unconscious. She goes down and puts her paw on him. "Vincent!"

Many people from the crowd run over after seeing him fall, one of them calling out, "Hey, what's going on!?"

- - - - -

Vincent looks around, seeing himself in a ravaged valley, in darkness. "Where... am I?"

Soon, light steps can be heard behind him, and he turns around to see a Grovyle approaching him. As the pokemon stops a distance away, the two stare at each other in confusion.

Vincent is the first to speak, asking in a quiet tone, "Who are you..?"

The Grovyle continues to stare at him, going from confusion to caution. "I might ask the same to you."

After a moment, Vincent hesitently responds. "...I'm Vincent Verona. Where... are we?" He looks around the area, and the smaller pokemon immediately grows tense at the name.

"Vincent?"

He looks back at him. "Did that... mean something to you?"

The Grovyle closes his eyes tightly and shakes his head, before fading out slowly. Vincent runs towards him, shouting, "Hey, wait!" But it's too late. The pokemon is now gone. He sighs and looks around again, before several voices are heard from all directions.

He winces at the shouts which seem to flood his mind, before he drops to his knees and yelps out.

- - - - -

Vincent yelps and jumps up, having been lying in the ground. He looks around, noticing he is surrounded by several people.

"What... Where..."

Larisa quickly moves out of the way of him and looks at him with concern. "Vincent... What happened to you..?"

He looks at her, then bows his head. "I... really don't know. I think I passed out. And then... there was this dream."

"A dream..?"

Vincent thinks for a moment. "There was a Grovyle... The place was dark and lifeless, but he seemed like he knew me when I told him my name..."

"...I see." Larisa hovers closer to him. "I don't know about a Grovyle, but..." She hugs him tightly. "You scare me when you just go unconscious like that. I don't know what to do, and panic..."

He looks back up at her, then sighs and returns the hug. "I'm sorry, Larisa... I'm okay now."

A man from the crowd chimes in. "Wait, wait. You're _Vincent_? The Vincent who used to live over there?" He points off towards what looks like a small garden area surrounded by a wooden fence.

Vincent stands up and stares at it in silence, remembering that it is the exact spot where his house used to be.

The man soon speaks up again. "Hey, I'm sorry for what happened."

He looks back at the person for only a moment, before he turns and pushes through the crowd to go to the garden, Larisa following him quietly. As they reach the outside fence, they walk through a small gate. Inside, there are various potted plants placed, and envelopes wrapped in plastic film strewn along the fence. In the middle of the garden, surrounded by the many flowers, are two stone tablets.

The two go to the tablets and look them over. On one says, "_Samuel Alicera - 8/12/1970~11/3/2006_," and on the other, "_Crissa Verona - 2/6/1971~11/3/2006_." They stare at them for what seems like forever, and Vincent steps forward, kneeling down in front of them. He closes his eyes and grasps his stone necklace in silent melancholy.

Larisa looks at him, then moves forward to wrap her arms around his neck in an embrace. As the two remain to pay their respects, another teenaged boy from the crowd overlooks them, dressed in a black jacket and jeans. His only thoughts go to the two who have, not long ago, lost something dear...

- - - - -

~Cerulean Outskirts~

As Christina and Melissa stand in an open field, staring at their necklaces which both have a light blue glow, they begin to realize what is happening.

Christina looks at Melissa. "I guess Vincent made it back home..."

Melissa slowly nods and takes hold of her necklace. "Then we'll have to be here to keep helping however we can."

Christina takes her own necklace and nods in return. "Right... Let's keep going. We won't let him down."

The two stones then release a wave of energy through the area, a calming aura that spreads through them, and Sierra and Aerthos flying just above them. They then let go of the stones and they soon stop glowing, the energy fading.

The sisters look at each other, then turn to the city. They are about to start off, when Melissa notices something glowing in the sky above it. She taps Christina's shoulder and points to it, and the two stare at what looks like a tiny red ball of light.

Before they have any time to react, the ball explodes and releases waves of energy throughout the city. Immediately after, a crash is heard as something appears to shoot down to the ground from it.

The two dragon pokemon above instinctively fly down just in time to cover them from what would've been a harsh impact from the waves of energy. As they do, they are hit with a force nearly strong enough to blow them into the girls. But they are able to stand their ground until it is over.

Melissa and Christina look at the Dragonite and Flygon and immediately run over as they stagger.

"Aerthos! Sierra! Are you okay?" Christina calls to them, and the two shake their heads, disoriented for a moment. They then look down to the sisters, and nod reassuringly.

Melissa steps towards Sierra and puts her hand on the Flygon's head. "Thanks for protecting us... That was brave of you two."

Christina nods and looks up at Aerthos with a smile, and he snorts proudly.

After a moment, they all turn towards the city again and look at the cloud of dust that has risen since the event. Christina grows anxious at this, and speaks up. "Should we check it out..?"

Before Melissa can respond, they hear sirens coming from all all over in the city.

"...I don't think we'll be the only ones doing so."

Christina nods slowly, and they all rush into the city. As they reach what they believe to be the crash site a short while later, they come to see a large crowd of what seems to be over a hundred people surrounding a crater the size of several yards.

As they make it through the crowd, they look into the hole in the ground, noticing something small beginning to move in it... a black, quadrupedal creature staggering up and having red sparks all around it.

Melissa comes to the edge of the crater to inspect it closer, it eventually becoming clear to be a dark-blue-ringed Umbreon with deep, red eyes. Christina goes over and looks down at it, blinking at the unexpected sight.

The small pokemon shakes its head and looks around at the crowd, appearing shaken and confused. The sparks around its body continue, as it stands still, seeming unsure of what is happening around it.

As several sirens are heard approaching, the crowd of people is scattered by officers running through to the site. One of the officers comes out of the crowd, and calls out to Christina and Melissa. "Girls, I must ask you to step away from the crater! This site is being closed off for investigation."

They look at the officer, then Christina looks back at the Umbreon, who seems to be growing annoyed at being surrounded by so many people. It quickly runs out of the crater and towards the crowd, before being stopped by a burst of flames passing in front of it.

The small pokemon turns to see a couple officers with a Growlithe between them. The canine pokemon growls at the Umbreon, who braces itself. The sparks around its body intensify as it becomes agitated. Then, it does something that no one expects.

"Who are you people!?"

Many of them gasp at hearing the pokemon speak, and Melissa squeaks. "It talks!"

The officers appear dumbfounded at this too, but they keep their positions, in an attempt to keep the civilians away from the Umbreon, and it away from them.

One of the officers runs to the girls, before stopping when Aerthos and Sierra fly down to protect them from the apparent threat.

The Umbreon growls as he fades away, before reappearing in the distance. "Typical of you all to gather at something like this... Can't you all leave me alone!?"

The Growlithe blinks, then its ears twitch and he looks towards the new location of the dark pokemon. A female voice is heard from the crowd. "Arcanine, go!"

In response, a much larger canine pokemon emerges at high speed, stopping at the opposite side of the Umbreon. Behind the Arcanine, a familiar female officer with blue hair and eyes runs out to come to its side.

"We don't want to hurt you! If you come with us willingly, we won't have to use force!"

The Umbreon grunts. "The last time I dealt with cops, they tried to tase me. I don't think so!" His body sparks erradically and he stomps on the ground. Right after, several red beams shoot up in a line at high speed towards the Arcanine, managing to catch even it off guard as it is blown into the sky with great force, howling in response.

The small pokemon then fades and reappears above the Arcanine, as he flips around with his tail covered in the energy, slamming the much larger pokemon down and knocking it unconscious. He then drops down next to it afterwards and staggers, the sparks now intense as he strains.

Christina and Melissa run to the baffled officer, followed by the two dragon pokemon. And Christina calls to her. "Call off all your pokemon, Jenny! He's only going to keep attacking if he feels threatened!"

The Umbreon looks at her and shudders, and Jenny turns to face her. "Er... We must remain persistent and see to it that he comes to us!"

Christina stops in front of her. "Screw your protocol! You keep this up, more harm will come than good! You wanted him to come willingly, well this isn't the way to make that happen!"

The dark pokemon stares at her as she argues with Jenny, and he yelps out and drops to his side. Christina then turns to him, and quickly runs over to keel down next to him.

"Hey! Are you okay..?"

The Umbreon looks up at her. "N-Nice try there... But I don't feel like going..."

She sighs. "Then you don't have to."

"What are you talking about..? Are you trying to trick me? 'Cause I'll drop you right here if you are."

Christina shakes her head and puts her hand on him. "Oh, cut it out... You look like you're about to explode. You probably wouldn't even be able to do something to me."

The Umbreon huffs and stares at her defiantly, though the sparks die down. "Crazy girl."

She rolls her eyes, then looks back at Melissa and the two dragon pokemon. She then nods to Aerthos, who flies over, and she looks at Melissa and motions for her to go to Sierra. She looks back at the Umbreon.

"What's your name?"

The pokemon stares at her for a moment, before speaking. "...Umbros."

She nods a bit. "Umbros... I'm Christina. We're gonna get you out of here."

The officers, primarily Jenny, stare at them suspiciously as they are unable to tell what they're saying or what they plan to do. Melissa jumps onto Sierra's back, and Christina strokes Umbros' head as he looks at her with confusion.

"Are you serious..?"

"It'll be fine. I'll take care of you."

Umbros sighs. "Fine... Not like I can really move anyways."

Christina then picks him up and jumps onto Aerthos' back, and Jenny immediately runs towards her, calling out. "Hey! What do you think you're doing!?"

The two sisters tap Aerthos and Sierra, and they both take off from the ground before any of the officers get the chance to get near them. Even the flames that come from their squad of Growlithe and Arcanine are unable to reach them as they fly off from the site and away from everyone.

Umbros looks at Christina with uncertainty, but then closes his eyes as he decides to accept what is happening. He awaits what is to come next, as they fly off towards the south end of Cerulean to escape... 


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 - Rise Of An Old Threat

~Oak Pokémon Research Laboratory~

"And that concludes our coverage of this bizarre incident. We'll bring you more as this story develops. In other news..."

Vincent turns away from the television after having watched a news feed about the events in Cerulean. He looks outside the window for a moment. "The Dragonite and Flygon they talked about..."

Larisa looks at him. "You think they could be Aerthos and Sierra?"

He nods slowly. "It's too much of a coincidence. It has to be them. Which means Christina and Melissa are there as well."

"Well, that's good, right? That means we can find them."

Vincent nods slowly. "It's been a while... I wonder how they're doing? And Hector... He and Lasuno are out there too."

Larisa lowers her ears at the mention of Lasuno's name, looking down. He turns to look at her for a second, then moves over to stroke her neck. "You miss him, don't you?"

She slowly nods. "Very much..."

Vincent wraps his arm around her to hug her. "It'll be okay... Once we find them, we'll all be together again."

She makes a quiet purr and closes her eyes. After a short time, Professor Oak walks into the lobby with two cups and a bowl on a tray. "I brought you two some tea."

The two turn to him, and Vincent smiles as he sets the tray on the coffee table and takes a seat on the couch. They then go over to sit down with him

"Thanks again for letting us stay here a while, Professor Oak."

Oak smiles and nods. "Of course. But young man, you really shouldn't be wandering around in the cold with just a blanket. It's really not good for you, or your friend."

Vincent sighs and takes one of the cups, blowing into it. "I don't exactly have anything warm to wear. Almost everything was damaged in the fire, so we took what we could salvage and left."

"And I would assume you never planned anything before you left here, did you?"

"...No."

Oak looks at him, then gets up. "Would you allow me a temporary leave?"

The two watch him as he walks out of the room, then look at each other. Vincent then takes a drink and Larisa leans down to the bowl, taking a sip. She then squeaks and jerks back, taking a few deep breaths, and Vincent blinks.

"Hot..?"

"No, it's cold!"

Vincent rolls his eyes at her sarcasm. "That's why you're supposed to blow on it and let it cool down first, silly."

Larisa shoots a glare at him, and he shrugs with a smile. "...Oh, shut it, you."

After a while, Oak comes back and calls to them. "Would you two come with me please?"

They look at him curiously, then get up and go out into the hall with him. He walks them down to another room and takes them inside. In this room, various shelves and hangers standing all over the place, all of them having different types of clothing ranging from pants and shorts, to shirts and sweaters, and even jackets of all sizes. Vincent looks around the room curiously.

"What is this...?"

Professor Oak walks through the room and then turns back to the two. "People have made donations over the years to allow new trainers and others in need of essential items to be able to have them. There is quite the selection to choose from. Since you have lost much recently, I believe it is only right that I let you have this small gift. Pick anything you see fitting."

Vincent looks back at him in surprise, but then feels a sense of reassurring gratefulness at this offer. "I don't know what to say..."

Oak smiles with a nod. "You needn't say anything. It's the least I could do for you. Your family has, in fact, given this town more than just their kind assistance. It would be terrible to let that go to waste. Consider this my own thanks."

Vincent smiles a little, and Larisa looks at him.

"Awww, are you gonna get all bubbly and mushy inside?"

Vincent blushes and looks down, shaking his head. "S-Shut up..."

The Latias giggles and hugs him, and Oak can't help but utter a laugh at it. Soon enough, they hear the doorbell ring, and Oak looks outside the room.

"I believe I should get that. Oh, do take your time!"

Vincent looks at him again and nods, and he walks by them and out of the room. They then look around the room, examining the different kinds of clothing.

After a short while, Vincent finally comes out of the room, dressed in a new attire. He now has a black fabric, zipped-up jacket, lined down the sleeves with a light-grey band which comes up and across the back of the collar, behind the hood. His necklace is tucked inside the jacket, over a plain, black t-shirt. He has loose, black jeans held with a belt, and laced, black leather shoes.

He looks at Larisa, who looks him over and giggles. "Well... You certainly do like your black."

He rolls his eyes. "It's warmer in the winter. It'll help. I picked out a couple sets for when it gets warmer, so I'll be fine."

"Just a couple?"

Vincent shakes his head. "I don't exactly feel like carrying twenty sets of clothes around with me while roaming around, especially since I need to be prepared for anything that comes. And having a bunch of things on me makes me just a bit less mobile."

Larisa sighs and nods. "Yeah, you're right... I just wish we didn't have to be _roaming_ like this."

He reaches over and pets her head. "We won't have to forever. When all this is over, we'll be able to settle down and be at peace again."

The Latias coos softly and looks at him with a small smile. "Okay..."

He picks up a greyish-blue bag and slings it over his shoulder, then the two go down the hall and into the lobby. Here, they see Oak with another, familiar, individual. A male of Vincent's age, with medium-length, pitch black hair and wearing what appears to be a black, goth-style outfit. He has brown eyes, which look at Vincent and Larisa as they come into the room.

"Hey, Vincent. How're you doing?"

Vincent blinks and eyes him curiously. "Heeey, it's... you. Uhh... Raven, right?"

"Yep, that's it."

"...You were watching us before, when we were in the garden."

Raven nods and gets up from the couch. "Yeah. I heard about you guys before and what happened. Just wanted to know if you're okay."

Vincent shrugs a bit. "Better now... How come you're so interested? Seems like you're kinda following me around now."

"Actually, I came here to pick up my pokemon I left with Professor Oak yesterday."

Vincent narrows his eyes at this. "Your... pokemon? That means you're a trainer, then?"

Raven nods again. "Yeah, kind of. I got my buddy Pika a couple years ago, but I haven't gone out anywhere yet. Been too busy to do anything until about a week ago."

"...I see. To each their own, I guess."

Raven looks at him with curiosity. "You don't like trainers, do you?"

Vincent shakes his head. "It's not really that. Just the idea of putting pokemon into little capsules sort of peeves me. But if they seem to be fine with it, whatever."

Oak looks at them for a moment, then stands up. "Some people have their own ideals. Vincent's family trained and cared for dragons for many years, but never put them into pokeballs. And that's fine too."

Raven looks at him. "Yeah, I guess it doesn't matter, as long as they're taken care of."

Vincent nods slowly. "...So, where is your Pikachu, I'm assuming it is by the name?"

"Oh, right! Yeah, he's in the field outside. Could we go get him, Professor?"

Oak smiles. "Of course. Come with me."

Oak leads the two outside and into the fields nearby. After a time of walking around, they come to a small pond where some of the pokemon are wandering around. And under a tree, they see a Pikachu sleeping, its color a darker yellow and the black on its ears spiking off where they turn yellow.

Raven calls out to the small pokemon, whose ears twitch to the sound. It soon opens its eyes and looks around, then ahead to see him, and smiles. The Pikachu then jumps up and runs over, jumping up onto his shoulder.

Vincent watches with a bit of curiosity as the Pikachu nuzzles against Raven's head, and smiles a little at the sight. "I suppose he is happy then..."

Raven looks at him. "Of course he's happy."

Vincent nods slowly, then looks at Oak. "Hey... I think it's about time for me to go now."

The Professor nods and smiles to him. "Come back any time, young man."

Raven eyes him curiously. "Where are you planning on going?"

"It's... kind of hard to say."

"Come on, it can't be that bad."

Vincent sighs and turns off. "You wouldn't believe it if I told you. It's better I didn't tell anyone."

Larisa looks at him and puts her paw on his shoulder. "Vincent..."

Raven folds his arms, and Professor Oak looks between them. "...I think I should be returning to the lab now."

Vincent looks back at Oak, who nods back to him, before walking off towards the lab. He then turns to Raven, seeing that he doesn't appear willing to just drop the subject.

"Is it that bad to be a little concerned?"

"Why are you concerned? What's so significant about me that you have to know?"

Raven puts his arms down. "Because you lived in my hometown. I have every right to want to help out people here who need it."

Pika looks between them and blinks. "...Pi?"

Vincent eyes him, and responds, "It's Vincent..."

Pika blinks at him, and Raven furrows a brow. "Woah, wait... Did you just talk to him?"

"Yes."

"...You understand pokemon."

"Yes..."

Raven stares at him. "...Okay. I can get that, you talk to pokemon."

"It's not that... uncommon."

"Just a bit."

Vincent rolls his eyes and turns off. "Look, can I go?"

"Why won't you let me help y-"

"Because you'll get yourself killed, alright!?"

Everyone immediately falls silent. For several moments, the place seems to have become as quiet as a graveyard. And then, Larisa moves in front of Vincent.

"Vincent... Please try to calm down."

Vincent looks at her and shakes her head, and Raven speaks up. "No, I get it. You just don't want me getting involved because it's _too much for me_. But sometimes people try anyways. See you around, Vincent."

He walks off, and Vincent looks back at him as he disappears off in the distance. He sighs and turns back to Larisa.

"...Let's go. We've stayed too long..."

Larisa looks at him with a low, sad coo, then the two go off to the north, heading towards the exit of the town.

After a while, Raven turns back towards the lab. He stands there for a moment, and Pika looks at him with concern. He then shakes his head. "No, they're not going off alone."

He walks on, intent on getting back to Vincent, even if he has to follow at a distance so he isn't seen. Something about him has made him uncertain... And he wants answers.

- - - - -

"Hello there, Jack..."

Jack looks up from his desk, having been working on a device in his factory. And what he sees makes him drop the needle in his hand and step back.

"...James?"

"Surprised?" James smiles and walks towards him. And he squints his eyes, in disbelief.

"But... I thought you'd gone. What happened, did you just not go back?"

"Oh, you're not wrong. In fact, you're more right than you know."

Jack stares at him. "What do you mean? Why do you have that tone in your voice? And why are you wearing... black?"

James scoffs quietly and walks around Jack. "Hmm... Perhaps you won't understand."

He keeps his eyes on him, clearly concerned. And James turns around to face him.

"Let me just make it simple for you. I am not the brother you knew. James... Yes, he is gone. And in his place is someone who should've been here all along."

Jack backs up, into his desk. "What..?"

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm James' inner darkness... The part of him he cast away without a second thought, just because I was too... what's the word. Controlling? But he was just naive. If it weren't for me, he wouldn't even have been where he was all this time. And now, he's served his purpose. I'm here to reclaim what is mine. And you..."

Jack stares at him, his hand on the desk behind him to grab at a screwdriver. And James steps forward.

"...I need your assistance. You see, a certain old friend of ours is in the way of what I seek. You remember Vincent Verona?"

Jack keeps his eyes on him, grasping the screwdriver in his hand.

"What I need you to do... is simply to, let's say... create something. Admittedly, he's far too cautious around me to make attacking him a remotely possible task. But you? He trusts you... Therefore, what I need from you, is a weapon that can weaken him just enough for me to finish the job. Think you can do that... brother?"

Jack grunts. "Not for you... You're not my brother. You're just a psychopath in my brother's body." He swings around and makes one swift movement to send the screwdriver into James. But just an inch away from his body, his hand stops.

James stares at him with a smirk, his eyes glowing as his hands held out towards him. "...So close. Yet so far away." He closes his hands, and Jack yelps out, his wrist feeling as though it were being crushed and he drops the screwdriver on the ground. James then swings his hands out and smacks his chest, sending him backwards over the table, and into the shelves behind several yards away, causing the tools on it to fall to the floor as he then falls into the mess that was created.

James steps around the table and kneels down to Jack, placing his hand around his neck and picking him up.

"I'm gonna be generous... just because we're _related_. I'm gonna let you go for now. But I will return, in time. And when I do, I want you to make a decision. You will either help me, or you'll face a hell unlike anything you could imagine."

Jack looks at him, disoriented now, before he drops him. He then turns and walks away, soon fading away, and Jack eventually loses consciousness on the floor... 


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 - Unraveling Of A Scheme

"Do you see them?"

"No... It should be clear."

Christina pokes her head out from behind a tree and looks around the area, before walking out with Umbros behind her.

Melissa looks back at them and sighs. "That was kinda close, wasn't it?"

Umbros glances towards the city to the north for a moment, then looks up at Christina. "...Why'd you help me? You could've left me back there, but you risked your lives to get me out."

Christina looks down at the Umbreon and then shakes her head. "I don't need a reason to help others, do I? You were in trouble, so I came and got you out of it."

Melissa smiles a bit. "Christina isn't fond of the police either."

Christina looks back at her and rolls her eyes. "They don't listen to reason. Of course I don't like them."

"You just say that because you and Aerthos almost got arrested for scaring a clerk at an ice cream parlor."

Aerthos snorts and Christina shoots a glare at her. "I told you he got scared of Aerthos! We didn't do anything wrong. It's not my fault he's crazy and called on us just for him being there!"

Melissa giggles and Christina pushes her backwards in annoyance. Umbros watches them with a smile and then sits down, sighing.

"The police where I'm from are much too few to handle the crime that goes around. They don't use pokemon... but they have different weapons to take down criminals with."

The two look at him with curiosity, and Christina asks, "Where is it that you're from, Umbros?"

His ear twitches and he loks back at them. "...Black City."

Melissa blinks at hearing this. "Wait... Isn't that in the Unova region?"

Umbros nods. "Yeah, it's... wait, where is this?"

"This is the Kanto region... We just got out of Cerulean."

The Umbreon stares at her in surprise. "That's... like halfway around the world. How..."

Christina kneels down to him and strokes his head. "Do you remember how you got here?"

He shakes his head slowly and looks down. "I just remember I was being attacked... I don't know who it was, I couldn't see his face. He had a cloak on... But while I was trying to fight him off, I kind of blew up... And then, I blacked out, and woke up in a hole in the ground."

"You don't remember appearing from that light and crashing into the street..?"

Umbros shakes his head again.

Christina narrows her eyes and looks in thought. "Strange..."

"...I want to get home. I want to get back to my friends." Umbros whimpers and lays down. And Christina looks at him, feeling sympathetic at what he went through. She pets him softly and looks up at Melissa.

"You think we should help him, don't you?"

Christina nods.

"I thought so... We really should try and get him back home, somehow."

"Yeah..." Christina looks back at Umbros, who looks at her with a longing expression. And she picks him up, holding him in her arms. "Don't worry, Umbros. We'll help you get home."

Umbros whines quietly and buries his muzzle in her shoulder, saying nothing in response. But she can tell that he is grateful at her words. She stands up and turns back to Melissa, who nods back.

After a short time, they start hearing the sirens of the police approaching, and they look towards the city.

"We should go before they find us, Christina..."

Christina nods and they get back on the two dragons, before flying off to the southwest.

- - - - -

~January 8, 2007~

"Well... Here we are, Lasuno."

Hector walks up to a large, metal building on a barren island, and looks around. The area is surrounded by countless windmills, and is filled with vehicles of all different types. Ranging from private jets, to motorcycles, and even hovercrafts.

Lasuno peers around the area, then back at Hector. "...You said you were certain he could help us? But this looks like just a tech lab. Who is it, exactly, we're looking for?"

"It's someone I've known for a couple years, just trust me."

Lasuno stares at him for a moment. "Right..."

The two approach the door, and Hector knocks on it. Soon, a deep, male's voice chimes in over the speaker. "Please state your name."

He blinks at the sudden response, but then speaks up. "Hector. I'm here to-whaa!"

A laser shines on him, moving down his body to scan him, and then the door opens. "Welcome, Hector Alicera."

Hector stares at the door for a bit. "...That was intrusive. Uhh, okay..."

The two go in and look around, before the door shuts behind them. The inside of the building is open. The majority of the building seems to be one large room, with the exeption of a hallway that goes off to the side, leading to a few smaller rooms. The floor is made entirely of concrete, and the walls are almost completely metallic, echoing the loud sounds of various machines running throughout the room. There are tables and shelves spread around, containing equipment of all types.

After several minutes of looking around, they finally come to a shelf which appears to have been heavily impacted, having a mess of tools on the floor in front of it. And in the mess, Jack is seen laying in a puddle of blood, unconscious.

Hector, upon seeing him, immediately runs over and kneels down to him. "Hey, Jack! Jack, can you hear me?"

Lasuno flies over and looks at him, and he soon groans and opens his eyes. "Ugh..."

Hector moves over in front of him, and puts his hand on his shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?"

Jack looks up at him for a moment, then scoffs quietly. "...Yeah. I'm... fine." He brings himself up, then grunts and falls back down, appearing to be in near-critical condition and his arms covered in cuts.

Hector catches him and pulls him up with Lasuno's help, the two getting him to his feet as he pants.

"What happened to you, Jack?"

He groans and starts walking towards his desk, being held up by the two. "...I fell, that's what. ATHER, clean this crap up."

The deep voice from before speaks on the loudspeakers in response, "As you wish."

Hector looks around, then notices a machine on three wheels roll towards the mess they left. He then looks at Jack.

"You... fell. In a pile of tools."

"Quite so."

They reach his desk and he slumps down in the chair, laying his head back in exhaustion. He then points to the bottom drawer. "Get... the red box out of there."

Hector opens the drawer and pulls out a first-aid kit. He then sets it on the desk and opens it, and Jack reaches in to get out several bandages. After treating the smaller cuts, he gets a roll of gauze and starts bandaging the more severe wounds.

"...What are you doing here, Hector?"

Hector folds his arms. "Well I was gonna ask if you could help with something. But you don't really look in the shape to do that."

Jack soon finishes and sets the roll on the desk, before reaching for a water bottle and taking a drink. He then looks back at Hector.

"What do you need?"

"I don't want to push-"

"_What_ do you need, Hector? I'll be fine."

Hector sighs and brings his arms down. "Look, I'm trying to help my brother with something. Vincent? Ever since the fire, I've been searching for a way to help with his task. But I haven't come to anything. So I figured, the one who would know most about what's going on, and might be willing to help-"

Jack eyes him almost sternly at the mention of Vincent, and being asked to assist him in his task, which makes Hector stop in his sentence and blink.

"...You won't?"

He takes another drink from his bottle. "It's not that I don't want to help. But since my brother left, I haven't really been thinking straight. I'm still really edgy about the whole idea. It's like this _Spiritual Council_ gave me a family member... only to take him away after everything we've been through. James and I were very close, as you might've noticed. What will you do once Vincent finishes his task and leaves forever?"

Hector shakes his head. "Vincent promised he'd come back..."

"Did he now? Well, let's see if he holds up to that." Jack gets up and walks off, and Hector runs over to follow him.

"Hey! So you're just gonna leave us like this? I thought I could come to you for anything. You did say that before."

Jack stops and sighs, before turning back to him. "Look. I have nothing against you, Hector. You're a good person and a good friend. You're one of the most intelligent people I've met. But when it comes to these _Messangers_ and all that crap, I want nothing to do with it. I'm sorry."

"...Will you at least do it for me? Please..."

Jack stares at him for several moments, then rolls his eyes and turns off. "ATHER, get him a computer. Give him access to Drive F and the internet. Answer anything he asks you."

ATHER responds, "Right away, sir."

He then walks off again. "I'm going to sleep for a while. Do whatever you need."

Hector watches him, and soon speaks up. "Thank you, Jack..."

Jack goes into the hallway and disappears around the corner, and Hector shakes his head. He looks back at Lasuno. "Sorry you had to see all that."

Lasuno eyes him. "Perhaps a better approach next time would help?"

"I didn't know he'd be all flustered over this..."

"And you never thought he might miss James?"

Hector pauses for a moment, then sighs and goes over to the desk, sitting down. "I guess..."

A few minutes later, the machine that earlier came to clean up returns with a tablet, and holds it out to Hector. He looks at it and blinks, then takes it and puts it on the desk. "Thank you."

He then opens up a window and starts going through files on it.

After an hour of searching and finding nothing, Hector groans and buries his face in his hands. "Why is it so hard?"

Lasuno eyes him quietly, and he sits back in the chair.

"ATHER, are you sure there aren't any reports at all?"

"I have no record of any Temporal anomalies, other than the events at Spear Pillar, last year."

"...And that was just Team Galactic being a bunch of morons. There's nothing else..?"

"No, sir."

Hector sighs, and Lasuno hovers idly around the desk. "Do you think, perhaps, that the Messangers' tasks are among events which lie outside any common human knowledge? I'm sure if something major were about to happen that people knew, it would have been brought up long before we ever got here."

He looks over at the Latios and folds his arms on the desk. "And what if it's just something that hasn't been heard about yet? There have to be some clues to what it could be. People can't just go off nothing."

"I hear Messangers have ways of learning what others could never know about their own world. That's how they can do their tasks in secret."

Hector shakes his head. "Then how are we supposed to help?"

"Maybe we're not supposed to help yet... Maybe we're supposed to be there with him when he does need our help."

Hector goes silent for a moment, before picking up the tablet and closing out of the folders he's in. He then pulls up the map. "ATHER, can you tell me where Vincent is?"

"Searching global satellites and tracking Vincent's cellular position..." After a moment, ATHER speaks again. "Vincent appears to be located near Diglett's Tunnel just east of Vermilion."

Hector zooms into the area where a pointer can be seen showing Vincent's location on the route. "Wonder when he got back to Kanto..."

"Vincent is documented to have entered Kanto's Western Forest, January 1, 2007."

"...You keep reports? That's kind of invasive..."

As he goes through the recent stories reported in the area, he pulls up one that catches his attention specifically. After reading it over, he appears to become somewhat tense. "Hey... Lasuno? Come look at this."

Lasuno looks at him, then hovers over to look at the tablet.

"Recent appearances of individuals wearing uniforms relating to that of Team Rocket have been reported in the area of Celadon and Saffron as of January 3, 2007. It is now known that they have overtaken Saffron's police force and newscasting service, so no stories have been published to the general media. This information has been recorded by an individual working for Silph Company, who has bypassed Team Rocket's security..."

Lasuno blinks, clearly confused. "Team Rocket? But I thought they disbanded several years ago, shortly after their takeover in Goldenrod..."

Hector nods slowly. "So did I... Seems some of them just don't know when to quit."

"And Vincent's right near there, too."

Hector continues looking over the stories around the local area, before coming to one that was reported in Cerulean, just a few days ago.

"...Didn't we hear about this one? About the Umbreon in Cerulean?"

Lasuno nods, and Hector reads through the articles pertaining to the event, until he comes to one that was posted just yesterday. As the two look it over, Hector's eyes become wide and he sets the tablet on the desk, getting up from the chair.

"We have to go. Now. ATHER, tell Jack something came up. We're leaving."

"Good luck, sir."

Lasuno looks at him, and the two immediately rush to the exit, leaving the facility. Hector then gets on Lasuno's back and the two fly off towards the east in a hurry.

The tablet appears to be closing all the windows on its own, the last one being open for just a second longer showing a report of the wanted individuals being sighted in the area of Celadon... 


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 - Taking A Stand

"You really have an apt for following me around."

"You're not stopping me, are you?"

"I suppose I should've..."

Vincent and Larisa come to the port city of Vermilion and look around, the sun shining in the middle of the sky, signifying that it is around noon. They'd been traveling for days, and just passed through Diglett's Tunnel as a shortcut here. However, they weren't particularly alone on their travels.

Raven stops behind them as they enter the bounds of the city, panting lightly. "You're too fast..."

Vincent looks back at him and rolls his eyes. "That... tends to happen when you're trying to get away from someone. Why are you following me anyways?"

"I told you why. Whatever you're doing, you're not doing it by yourself. I don't give a crap what you say."

Vincent shakes his head. "Whatever... Get yourself killed, then."

Larisa looks at him and sighs. "Can you calm down..?"

He eyes her for a moment, then looks down. "Fine..."

After a moment, they go on, eventually finding their way to the Pokémon Center for a break. As they enter, it appears there is a fair number of people inside. Most of them are sitting at tables near a large, flat-screen television on the wall, where the news can be seen.

The three go to an open booth nearby and sit down, and Vincent puts his arms on the table.

"...It's been a while since I've been to a city like this."

Raven looks at him curiously. "What other city is there like this?"

He looks around for a moment, before sitting back in the seat. "Olivine..."

"You've been to Olivine?"

Vincent nods slowly. "About a month or so ago."

Raven squints his eyes at this. "Wait... So you left and traveled all the way across Johto? What for?"

"There was... someone I needed to meet. An old friend who needed help."

He is quiet for a short time, finding it odd that he chose to help someone else so soon after having experienced something as terrible as he had.

After a bit, he speaks up again. "...Did you get to help this someone?"

Vincent looks down at the table in silence, and Larisa looks at him, then puts her paw on his back. Raven, having realized what may have happened, decides to leave it alone.

"...I see."

Vincent sighs quietly and closes his eyes, and Raven stares at him with concern. "Hey, if you don't wanna talk about it..."

"It's fine. I've just been really tense lately and I've been taking it out on you."

Raven sits back in his seat, looking at him quietly. And he takes a deep breath, before looking up at him.

"...I'll tell you the whole story, since you insist on knowing. But don't jump on me when you don't believe it."

"Hey, I've known some crazy stuff."

"Not this crazy..."

"Hit me."

Vincent stares at him, then shakes his head. "Okay then..."

- - - - -

"...So, wait... You say you're some kind of spiritual being who came to this world to stop something?"

Vincent nods.

"And it's gonna happen soon. But you don't know what it is yet?"

He nods again. And Raven sits back in his chair, eyeing him. "...Alright, then."

"See?" Vincent gets up and starts off, and Raven calls out.

"Hey! I didn't say I didn't believe you!"

Vincent turns his head back and stares at him. And he sighs. "It's just... hard to really grasp. I don't get a lot of it. But that doesn't mean it isn't possible... Some of it did make some sense."

Vincent narrows his eyes and turns around to face him.

"Look... I don't really understand a lot of what you said. But that doesn't mean I don't want to try and help. You can't just blow me off because of that."

"...Why are you so insistent on it? Just because I lived in your hometown doesn't exactly add up to me. So are you going to try and help everyone in Pallet whenever something comes up, for that reason?"

Raven shrugs. "I could."

Vincent stares at him, clearly not buying it. "What's your real reason?"

"It's... my own reason. You don't need to know."

"Fine... Then don't expect me to go along with it. Follow me if you want, but I'm not gonna bail you out if you get into trouble. You're putting yourself in more danger than you could know."

"Good. I wouldn't have it any other way."

Vincent rolls his eyes and turns towards the television, curious to what everyone appears to be interested in.

The news is showing a large crowd of people standing outside a gate, which is being boarded off by several police officers in an attempt to keep the people from passing through. There seems to be a great deal of disturbance, as the news anchor speaks up.

"It has been four days now, since this sudden outbreak has occurred, and officials are continuing their efforts to keep the countless upset visitors at bay. It is still unclear as to what is occurring inside the gates of Saffron, and those who are working outside have refused to disclose any information. At this time, it appears to be an endless struggle to find out who is actually responsible for these events."

Raven gets up and looks at Vincent. "...You wondering about it too?"

Vincent nods. "This is much too fishy... These _officials_ are clearly hiding something that the public needs to know."

"Think we should see what's going on?"

"Might as well..."

The three soon take off from the Pokémon Center, and head north to leave the city. Though it is unclear what they will run into once they get to Saffron... they are prepared for anything.

- - - - -

~ Celadon Café ~

Christina and Melissa have been sitting at a table, taking a break from their wandering and eating a small lunch. It's been nearly a week since their arrival at Celadon, and since then they've learned of the suspicious activities that have gone on in the city, as well as the lockdown of Saffron. They have spent much of their time here trying to learn about what has really been happening, but have had little luck.

The two look around the café at the other people who are there. It seems as though everyone is going about their day, entirely oblivious to what has been happening. And they begin to wonder if the rumors of such activities are really even true, or merely a rouse to start commotion.

Still, it's not something they want to simply dismiss until they've checked into everything they can. They go back to talking amongst themselves, ignoring the three men in dark grey jackets and fedoras walking into the café.

"So what do you think, Melissa? Think it really is true? That whatever's happening here has some connection to what's in Saffron?"

Melissa sits back in her chair and sighs. "I'd like to think so. But lately we haven't even come across anything remotely interesting. It's bothering me, really. I mean, the city just ten miles away is completely locked down and no one's able to get inside. Yet everyone here's acting like nothing's happening..."

Christina nods. "Does seem suspicious. But this _has_ been going on for days. Perhaps the only way we can find out what's really going on is..."

"...by going to Saffron?"

She nods again. And Melissa sighs. "I've kind of been thinking the same thing. We may _have_ to go there."

Christina takes a drink of her iced tea and glances around, before noticing the three people sitting at the bar. They seem to be talking amongst themselves, rather secretively, making her stare at them in curiosity. And Melissa turns back to look at them as well, before turning back to her.

"Something the matter..?"

Christina shakes her head and takes another drink, looking at Melissa. "I don't know... Something's... odd."

"You're telling me... I feel like it just became ten degrees cooler in here."

She puts her cup down and looks over at Umbros, who's been sitting in another chair at the table, and looks back at her curiously. She shakes her head and sits back in the chair, glancing back at the three men.

It can soon be seen that one of them is reaching into his jacket pocket, and Christina shifts her gaze at Umbros, who is staring at her. He seems to be growing concerned at what she's doing.

It doesn't take long, before the man pulls out a pokeball, then jumps out of his chair and tosses it, releasing an Alakazam and causing everyone to jump in surprise and stare at it. The other two spring up and release their own pokemon as well, an Arbok and a Crobat.

The waiter at the counter comes over and shouts to them, "Hey! What's going on here?"

The first man glances back at him, and the Alakazam lifts its hands, using Psychic to toss the person backwards, and making several other people gasp in shock.

Christina clenches her fists, and Melissa looks at her, then at the three men who are starting a ruckus. She doesn't want to speak up and make herself stick out from the other people, so she keeps quiet and waits to see what'll happen.

Umbros, however, is staring at the three intently, seeming to grow annoyed from the commotion.

"Alright, everyone! This is how it's gonna be! I don't want anyone interfering with us. As of now, this place is ours, and everyone who stands up to us will receive the maximum punishment. So I suggest you make yourselves comfortable until we decide what to do with you."

Melissa mutters, "Who are they to try and pull this crap..?"

Umbros growls and, without hesitation, vanishes. And they suddenly see the Alakazam get shot off into the wall with great force. Everyone looks where it once was, seeing Umbros standing there, his rings flickering as he turns his gaze to the Arbok right next to him.

The snake pokemon's owner glares back at him. "What is this!? Arbok, poison sti-"

Umbros reacts before he can finish his command, and his eyes glow, before the Arbok is tossed through the window. He then looks at the Crobat, who releases a soundwave from its mouth, causing Umbros to yelp and shake his head.

The first man reaches into his other pocket to pull out a second pokeball, and Christina immediately grabs a salt shaker off the table and tosses it at him, smacking him in the face and making him fall to the floor. Melissa blinks at her sudden action, as she gets up from her chair and runs to the fallen man.

Umbros is soon able to recuperate himself and growls at the pokemon flying above, who flaps its wings and sends two blades of air at him, which are easily dodged. He then jumps up and flips forward, smacking the Crobat down with an Iron Tail and knocking it out quickly.

The other two men quickly call their pokemon back and make a run out the window the Arbok was thrown out of, before they are stopped by a roar and immediately jump back in, frightened.

Melissa looks to see Aerthos and Sierra outside, growling at the two, and smiles, running over. "Thanks, you two!"

Christina kneels down over the person, who has a nice red mark over his cheek bone where the glass shaker hit him. She speaks up in an aggrivated tone. "Who are you, and what do you want here?"

The man grunts and chuckles lightly. "Look at the little girl acting all high and mighty, and- hey, hey!"

She digs through his pockets and pulls a wallet out, opening it up to look inside. And what she sees is something she could never have expected...

"...You're from Team Rocket? A little ahead of your time, aren't you?" She glares down at him, and he tries to reach up to grab his wallet. But she jerks it away and then smacks him across the face with it. "I've seen enough..."

She reaches into the same pocket she pulled the wallet from, and pulls out a keychain, before throwing the wallet at him and standing up. He looks up at her and tries to make a move, before she stomps her foot down on his knee, making him yelp.

She then looks at the people behind the counter. "What are you waiting for? Are you gonna call someone or not?"

One of them blinks, then nods and goes to the phone. And Christina looks through the keys, finding a remote attached to them. "...Tell them these freaks are from Team Rocket. See if they believe that story." She looks at the other two people, who glare at her. "And you two? Consider yourselves lucky I give you the same treatment as your friend here..." She goes over to the door, followed by Umbros, and looks at Melissa.

"You ready?"

She blinks, then runs over to her. "Umm... right, yeah."

"Hey, wait! Who's gonna pay for the window?"

Christina glances back at the waiter, then at the two men. "I'm sure these nice gentlemen can cough up some money if you ask them nicely. You should watch and make sure they don't get away though..." She walks out, along with the others, and Melissa looks at her.

"Christina? You can be really scary sometimes..."

She takes the remote and starts pressing a button on it as she walks through the parking lot. "I don't deal with idiots... Especially those ones. The pathetic lot wasn't even worth fussing over, yet they acted so tough..."

Melissa stares at her and sighs, and they soon hear a beep come from one of the cars. They then walk over, seeing a silver car which looks similar to that of a Kia GT, with seemingly no damage.

"Seems they take care of their car, at least..." Christina clicks the remote, unlocking the car, and then looks up at the two dragons flying just above. "Can you two follow us?"

They nod, and she gets into the driver's seat. Melissa climbs in the front passenger's side, and Umbros gets in after her, jumping to the back seat.

"...Where are we even going, Christina?"

"Where else? To Saffron. If these guys are related to the ones there... if Team Rocket's really back, and is in Saffron, we can expect to be dealing with a load of trouble when we get there."

She looks at her as she starts the car up and checks the gas, seeing that it's nearly full.

"Are you sure you can even drive this? You only learned a few months ago..."

"Don't worry... It'll be fine."

Melissa shifts a bit, and pulls the seatbelt over herself. "Yeah, and then we'll crash into a pole, or fly ourselves off an overpass..."

"You worry too much." She pulls out of the lot and into the street, then drives off towards the east.

- - - - -

~ Saffron Southern Gate ~

Vincent, Raven and Larisa look over the bushes at the huge crowd outside the gate. It seems as though there are even more people here than what they saw on the news.

"Well, here we are."

Vincent looks over all the people, and then at the guards in front of the gate. "Wonder how we'll get around."

Larisa looks at him curiously as he stands up from the bush. He goes over to the crowd, soon followed by the others.

"I'd assume talking to them won't get anywhere. I doubt they know any more than anyone else."

Raven nods and looks over to the guards. "...I don't suppose you plan on trying to break through, do you?"

"If things go wrong, we may have to..." Vincent walks around the crowd, coming to a spot where he's able to make it through to the front. A few people glance at him as he passes, but no one says anything and seem too preoccupied with their bickering amongst each other and with the guards. At this point, it appears that the guards have stopped trying to reason with them, and have taken to merely making sure no one enters the city. He makes an attempt to talk to one of them himself.

"Excuse me... sir? What's going on here? Why is the city blocked off?"

The guard looks at him and seems to grunt out of annoyance. "Look, we've explained this to everyone already. There's been an incident in the city, and we've been told to lock it down until further notice."

Vincent eyes him suspiciously at his tone. Something is clearly off... but he can't tell what it is. "...What incident?"

"I don't have authorization to give you that information. Why don't you just go back where you came from? It's difficult enough already to deal with all these other-"

The guard looks at Larisa as she makes it through the crowd to Vincent's side, and she blinks, staring curiously back at him.

"-...people."

Vincent looks at Larisa, then back at him, and between them again. "What?"

The guard stares at Larisa for a moment, and she hovers back uncomfortably, before he shakes his head. "Nothing. Just do me a favor, go home."

He turns to walk off, and Vincent reaches over to grab his shoulder. "Hey, wait! Why were you looking at her like..."

He grunts and releases his grip before falling to the ground... a surge going through his mind.

In a vast mountain range, a large plant with a red R at the top can be seen. As the scene goes into the building, a stretch of hallways is seen, which eventually lead to a large room. Inside, there are several different machines running, and people dressed in labcoats.

But as the scene progresses further into the room, two large tables can be seen encased in glass tubes, where two familiar pokemon can be seen... Larisa and Lasuno. And they appear to be greatly injured.

A woman with long, black hair can be seen, overlooking the room from a balcony, wearing a red button-up jacket over a small, black shirt. Her eyes, piercing black, are staring at the two with intent.

The vision, almost as quickly as it came, disappears, causing Vincent to cringe as he comes back to reality. Raven comes through the crowd and looks down at him, then kneels down to his side.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Larisa comes down to him, concerned, and places her paw on his shoulder. "Vincent..."

"It's them..."

Raven stares at him curiously. "Who?"

Vincent gets back up to his feet and stares at the guard, who is looking back at him in confusion. "...You're the ones who did this to her..."

"I'm sorry, I don't quite under-"

Vincent quickly jumps forward and throws his hand at him, hitting him in the chest with his palm and launching him back with a burst of energy. The man, unsuspecting the attack and unable to do anything about it, yelps and skids across the ground, causing an uproar in the crowd and the other guards turn to look. Raven gets up and looks at him.

"Hey, what are you doing!?"

Vincent runs to the guard and grabs his collar, and the others rush over to try and stop him. But he holds his hand out to them, his eyes glowing as he glares at them. They all stop, and he turns back to face the one on the ground. "Didn't think you could hide your identity forever, did you?"

He jerks the man to his feet and turns to the crowd. "Everyone! I'd like to formally introduce you all... to a member of a certain organization you've all believed to be gone."

The other guards glare at him, having learned that their cover was just blown. And he grabs the person's coat, ripping it off him and revealing a vest with a badge having the distinguishable red letter R on it.

Everyone, once seeing this, immediately starts shouting indistinctly at the _guards_, now shown to be members of Team Rocket themselves. And the others behind him start running towards him. He then takes hold of the man's arm, and swings around, throwing him towards them and knocking them to the ground.

Raven goes over to him, looking at them and then back at him. "How did you know..?"

"Long story... Either way, we should go before they start coming after us."

Raven slowly nods, and the three rush past them, through the gate. Their passage into Saffron has been cleared, and what awaits them is unknown... They are now entering enemy territory. 


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: Rocket Speed **

"We're coming up on the gate to Saffron now. Won't be too long."

Christina nods as she shifts the gear in the car and speeds up down the street. It seems that there is no one driving along the way, giving an eerie silence to the area as they near Saffron. Though it wasn't surprising due to the gates being closed off.

"Luckily those guys left one of their phones in here to charge, or we'd be out of luck." Melissa looks at the GPS on the phone, seeing that they're now within a mile of the gate. As they look ahead, they spot a small group of vehicles lined up in a roadblock to prevent cars from passing through. They slow down to a stop about fifty yards away from them.

Christina puts the car into park and looks ahead. "...So how do you go about doing this? I don't think just breaking through is much of an option, do you?"

Melissa sits back in her seat and sighs. "Seems not."

But before they can begin to formulate a plan, the phone starts ringing, and Melissa blinks, staring at it. "Uhh..."

Christina looks at it, seeing a name in the caller ID... _Darwin_. They look at each other and Christina nods, before Melissa answers.

Immediately, a male's voice speaks up on the phone. "What's going on? Did you three wimp out? I should've known you weren't fit for the job."

They are silent, and Umbros pokes his head out from between the seats, in the back of the car. After a moment, the person speaks again. "Are you there?"

Melissa hangs up and looks at Christina. "Those aren't city guards..."

Christina stares at the roadblock, then rolls down her window. "Well, maybe breaking through just doesn't seem so bad. At least they think we're those three... for now, at least."

She pokes her head out and waves for Aerthos and Sierra to come down. Once they get to the side of the car, she looks at them, then back at the roadblock. "We're gonna need you in just a moment. On my signal, I need you two to direct an attack at those cars. Nothing really big, just clear us a way through, okay?"

They nod, and she looks at Melissa. The phone then rings again and they eye it. "...Time to settle this."

Melissa answers it again and the voice chimes in. "Who are those two pokemon? What's going on?"

Christina puts the car into drive and responds. "You guys better look out, cause things are about to get really ugly."

"Who is thi-" She reaches over and hangs up the phone, and Melissa looks ahead.

"You really think we can make it through?"

"I'd give it a fifty/fifty chance..."

She eyes Christina, who takes a deep breath, then drives on towards the roadblock. Upon coming near them, several of the people outside their cars are seen sending out various pokemon.

They aren't fazed by the small show of resistance, however, and upon coming near them, Christina waves her hand out the window. The two dragons then release their combined Hyber Beams at the center of the group, blasting a nice hole in the back of one of the cars and causing all the others to scatter from the attack.

Christina smiles and finds an opening in the mayhem they just created, then speeds through. Umbros looks out the back window as everyone seems to be trying to recollect themselves, and some of then move up to give chase.

Melissa looks in the side mirror, spotting them. "We've got some company, sis."

"Right, let 'em come." Christina picks up speed and races down the street while the others behind follow, a few of them easily catching up.

As one of them comes to the side, it moves over to try and ram them. And she tries to maintain control of the car. Melissa looks out the window at the driver, who smirks at them as he rams them again.

"Crap! He's gonna spin us off!"

Umbros moves over to the window. "Just a second..." He then disappears, ending up in the other car, shrouded in purple energy. "Hey, guys!"

The two in the car blink and look at him as he releases a Dark Pulse in the car and causes the driver to lose control.

The car is seen swerving off to the side of the street and then crashing into the wall. Melissa looks in the mirror in concern, just before Umbros reappears in the back seat.

Christina meeps in surprise and swerves just a bit, before bringing the car back into control. "Don't do that! You scared me!"

Umbros snickers. "Seems I scared them too. You're welcome."

Melissa sighs and lays her head back. "You're crazy..."

"Jealous?"

She eyes him in the rear-view mirror, before noticing the other cars behind them. She then rolls pokes her head out of the window and calls out. "Aerthos, try an Ice Beam!"

The Dragonite nods and turns to face the others. He then releases a light-blue beam across the street, freezing a portion of it and causing the cars to spiral out of control. He then turns back and races after Christina's car, catching up once again with her.

Melissa and Umbros watch as most of the cars slide off and crash on either side of the street, while only a couple of them manage to make it across the ice in one peace.

Sierra takes the chance to make a move, stopping behind them and flapping her wings. She then roars out and a wind almost immediately blows over the street, sending sand everywhere to block out their view. She then flies back to meet up with Aerthos in following Christina, and Melissa shifts back in her seat.

"We've gotta get off this street..."

Christina nods and they spot an off-ramp where the street is about to bridge across a lower city road. She turns off and then pulls under the bridge, before stopping the car.

As they wait, they hear the others who were behind them race across the bridge, and she sighs in relief. "Glad we don't have to deal with them anymore."

They get out of the car and look around, then at the two dragons, who came to hide with them under the bridge.

Melissa goes over to pet them and they both nuzzle her hands, making her smile. "Thanks, you two. You did great."

Christina smiles and then looks at Umbros, who jumps onto the roof of the car. "Well... welcome to Saffron."

He laughs a bit. "Best welcome ever. Now I feel more at home."

"Right... Black City's like this, isn't it?"

He shakes his head. "Almost... It's a lot larger, and it's always cloudy there. We almost never see the sun..."

She blinks, then nods slowly. "I guess that would be fitting for an Umbreon..."

Melissa comes over to them and leans against the car. "I think we should get a move on. They'll be coming back once they realize we took this exit."

Christina looks at her and nods. "Yeah. We might as well keep going..."

They turn back to Aerthos and Sierra, and Melissa goes over to her side of the car. "Are you two ready?"

They nod, and she nods in return, before getting in. Christina and Umbros then get into the car as well and start off, the two dragons following.

* * *

"Raven, hold on."

Raven stops and looks back at Vincent, who appears to be staring off in the distance. As he looks towards the northwest, he can catch the sight of what seems to be a small sandstorm and the figures of two pokemon flying in the air.

Vincent looks intently at the scene, becoming curious. "Now what do you suppose that is...?"

Raven shrugs a bit. "I dunno. Could be anything."

"Yeah, but in a seemingly deserted city like this? Something's obviously up. And I'm willing to bet that has something to do with Team Rocket. Call me crazy, but I think I know exactly who those two pokemon are..."

Raven looks at him, then back at the pokemon as they fly down and disappear behind the buildings.

"...Let's go. I need to find out something." Vincent runs down the street in the direction of the incident, having his sights set on finding the certain individuals he'd been searching for since he returned home. And both Raven and Larisa follow after him.

After running through the streets of Saffron for a while, the three come to a stop when they hear an engine in the distance. They turn towards the sound, only to catch a glimpse of a Dragonite and Flygon flying over the buildings near them. And upon seeing them, they quickly go around the corner, in hopes of catching who Vincent has now confirmed to be his sisters... Though what he sees is rather unexpected.

Down the street, Christina is driving on, followed by Aerthos and Sierra, as she and Melissa are looking around the local area for anyone who might be around. However, after having driven for half an hour through the city, not a single person has been seen, making it seem as if all of Saffron has been deserted. They come to believe that everyone has locked themselves in their home to avoid any confrontation with Team Rocket. But they haven't even come by any of their members either.

Upon nearing an intersection, they finally get the sight of two people coming around the corner, along with... a Latias?

Christina blinks and looks closer at them, finally realizing who they are and coming to a screeching halt in the street by the three.

Melissa looks at them in surprise as Christina rolls down her window and calls out to them. "Hey, Vincent!"

Vincent looks back at her, rather dumbfounded, and then notices Melissa in the passenger's seat with her, waving at them. He runs over to the car, along with Raven, who speaks up to her. "Hey, Alice. How's it going?"

Vincent blinks and looks at him with a look of confusion. "Alice..? What are you..."

"Raven, I didn't expect to see you here. How've you been?"

"Just fine. Hey, wanna give us a ride?"

She nods. "Sure, get in."

Raven goes around to the passenger's side and then gets into the back, while Vincent looks between them, uncertain of what just happened. Christina looks back at him with a smile. "I'll explain along the way, Vincent... Larisa, it's good to see you!"

Larisa coos and smiles at her, then looks at Vincent, who nods back to her. She then goes up to meet Aerthos and Siera, who look quite happy to see her again. And Vincent goes in the back seat behind Christina.

When entering, Umbros looks at them both and, to their surprise, starts speaking. "Hey guys, join the ride!"

They both look at him, and Raven appearing even more surprised than Vincent. "The heck? You talk?"

"Got a problem with that, goth boy?"

He stares down at the Umbreon, before pulling a seatbelt over himself. "No, no problem."

"You look like one of those biker guys I know from a club back home. Look, ya better not give me any issues, alright?" Umbros smirks in a joking way, and Raven just idly nods.

"...Right, whatever."

Christina starts driving on, looking in the mirror back at the three. "Oh yeah, guys. That's Umbros. We found him in Cerulean. Umbros, that's my brother, Vincent and my friend, Raven."

Raven mumbles a bit. "Yeah, kinda met him."

Vincent shifts in his seat, looking down at Umbros, who turns towards him and blinks, then gives an intent stare back at him. He then blinks and shakes his head. "Sorry... You just remind me of something. I'm not sure what..."

"Uhh huh. You're just shocked I can speak. Don't hide it, it's okay."

Vincent folds his arms and sits back in his seat. "Actually I've known a few pokemon who can speak."

Umbros eyes him for a moment, then twitches his ears and looks between the front seats out the windshield. It is clear that even he is acting differently in the presence of Vincent, though it is unclear why.

Vincent looks at Raven, then towards Christina. "So how do you two know each other. And who's... Alice?"

Raven scoffs somewhat. "Alice is what we called her in music class. Raven's not my real name either, but I don't really tell anyone that."

"Wait, so you both went to that class?"

Christina smiles, taking a turn around a corner and speading up. "Raven was a basist. We performed together with me playing an electric guitar. Even Melissa was there, doing acoustic. Though unfortunately she wasn't able to go there as long as we were, since..."

The three siblings suddenly become rather silent, and Raven looks between them. "...Right. You don't have to bring it up."

Christina nods slowly. "Yeah..."

Melissa looks back at them, then more towards Vincent. "So what's gone on? It's been almost three months since we've seen each other."

Vincent sighs. "A lot happened... To put it into words, I..."

* * *

Melissa and Christina both appear shocked at his story, and even Raven seems rather surprised at what he heard.

Melissa looks outside her window. "...So you're saying James is now..."

Vincent nods slowly.

"I'm so sorry, Vincent... I know what he meant to you."

Vincent shakes his head. "I have to get through to him... But I just don't know what to do."

Christina looks at him through the mirror, then back to the road. "We'll think of some way. Don't worry too much about it."

He nods slowly, and Raven shifts in his seat.

"When you told me what you were, I thought it was cool and stuff. But I didn't know _that_ kind of stuff happened. Why didn't you say anything about it before?"

"I didn't want to bring it up. Besides, why didn't you tell me you knew my sisters, so I didn't think you were just some crazy stalker out of nowhere?"

He eyes him for a moment, then shrugs. "Just cause."

"Just cause you wanted to creep me out. That's okay, no problem."

Melissa then decides to butt in. "So you two are yapping at each other. Meanwhile, we're pulling up on Silph Headquarters. I'm pretty sure Team Rocket's gonna be there. There's no other explaination for them holding up the city like this."

Vincent looks over at her. "Silph..? They already tried to attack them before and failed. What would they want now?"

"Who knows? But if they're there, then we'll definitely have to be ready for them."

He and Raven look ahead at the tall building they're approaching, seeing countless cars gathered around the lot, along with people seeming to be crowded in it.

Vincent stares at the scene, becoming somewhat concerned about the situation they're getting into. "Well... Now we know where everyone is."

Christina nods. "We'll have to be careful. I expect we'll be dealing with more trouble than just Team Rocket..."

As they drive on to the site, a growing tension arises among them, as they prepare for what stands right ahead of them...

* * *

In a darkened plain surrounded on all sides by stone cliffs, James comes to a stop in his movements, and looks up at the sky. He stares up at the moon with intent, the light reflecting off his pale, green eyes.

"The time is growing near, to take action... Prepare yourself, Vincent. For you're about to enter your biggest challenge yet..."

He smirks and walks on, soon fading away and leaving the valley in silence...


End file.
